A key race in the swing state of Pennsylvania has finally been called for Republican senate candidate Dave McCormick who unseated Democratic incumbent Bob Casey. Previously, networks had refused to call the race officially, and Casey had refused to concede the race to his Republican challenger. McCormick’s monumental victory is notable for the Republican Party, which now has flipped the Senate and is on track to retain a majority in the House.
McCormick initially declared victory on Thursday afternoon. “McCormick is up 30,679 votes with more to come, as ruby red Cambria County is still outstanding,” McCormick campaign communications director Elizabeth Gregory announced. “While votes continue to be counted, any way you slice it, Dave McCormick will be the next United States Senator from Pennsylvania.”
As of writing this article, McCormick has 49 percent of the vote compared to Casey’s 48.5 percent with 98 percent of votes counted. However, Casey’s team was still holding out despite obvious defeat. “The count in Pennsylvania is still continuing,” according to a spokesperson for Casey. “Yesterday the vote margin shrunk by 50,000 votes and this race is now within half a point, the threshold for automatic recounts in Pennsylvania.” They added, “With tens of thousands more votes to be counted, we are committed to ensuring every Pennsylvanian’s vote is heard and confident that at the end of that process, Senator Casey will be re-elected.”
McCormick’s massive Senate victory is indicative of the down-ballot success of the Republican Party as President-Elect Donald Trump swept through the swing states in his decisive victory. Weeks before the election, The American Tribune had reported on opinions from top pollsters indicating that Trump would take the swing states and dismantle the “blue wall,” contrary to what polls indicated.
Renowned Democratic pollster, Doug Schoen, said before the election, “The so-called blue wall of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania is eroding for the Democrats.” He continued, “There is a level of disorganization on the ground, and incoherence, vis-a-vis the messaging that is clear, and what I’m picking up is that the Harris campaign really doesn’t have a closing message or strategy as we, I think, saw in Bret Baier’s interview with Kamala Harris.”
He further noted, “And there is not a clear sense as to what she’s going to do different than Joe Biden, which, as you point out, close to 60% of America, has made them feel worse off. She hasn’t articulated a coherent plan, and it’s, frankly, perfectly logical that she would say, different times, different circumstances, different plan. Here’s what I’m doing, here’s what Trump’s doing. Vote for me. She hasn’t done it, and I don’t have a sense, Laura, that she’s going to.”
“I don’t think it helped at all. I think she felt she’d reach some swing voters. But to me, the absence of clear answers the real sense of, you know, confusion, to perfectly logical questions that Bret asked to me suggest that it underscored all the issues and concerns. The view undecided swing voters have don’t think it helped a bit helped a bit, and it may well hurt her,” he concluded.
Watch Schoener’s opinion below:
Featured image credit: Dave McCormick US Senate
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