YORK, Pa. — Republican Dave McCormick claimed victory over Bob Casey Jr. in the race for U.S. Senate, before the Associated Press called the race in his favor on Thursday afternoon.
McCormick's campaign communications director Elizabeth Gregory issued the statement shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday.
"McCormick is up 30,679 votes with more to come, as ruby red Cambria County is still outstanding," Gregory said in a statement. "While votes continue to be counted, any way you slice it, Dave McCormick will be the next United States Senator from Pennsylvania."
Casey, who is engaged in a tight race with McCormick in his attempt to win a third term in the Senate, issued a statement Thursday morning expressing confidence that he would be re-elected.
“The count in Pennsylvania is still continuing," Casey said. "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. 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.”
Pennsylvania's Secretary of State must order a recount by 5 p.m. on November 14. The recount would have to be completed by November 26.
McCormick (R) had a nearly 30,000-vote lead as of Thursday morning. That margin decreased overnight from roughly 31,000 Wednesday night.
Many of the ballots came in from Democratic strongholds like Philadelphia and its suburbs.
Thursday though, most ballots have been counted with outstanding ballots largely remaining in Cambria County, where McCormick holds a roughly 24-point lead in the vote.
Cambria County faced issues on election day that saw a court-ordered extension of voting from 8 to 10 p.m. on election night. Any ballots cast past 8 p.m. were counted as provisional votes, which need to be verified by election officials before being counted.