Dave McCormick isn’t welcome to Senate orientation until all votes are counted in Pennsylvania, Schumer says
From Tuesday to Thursday this week, incoming senators will be shown the ins and outs of their new jobs.
But despite Republican businessman Dave McCormick celebrating a shake-up victory for Senate in Pennsylvania, he hasn’t been invited to the event.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick last week, but Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., has not conceded the race and a recount remains possible given the close margin. As of Friday, more than 100,000 ballots had not yet been counted, but many of those could be rejected.
The ballots were primarily provisional ballots, which counties are in the process of determining whether they count, and those cast by overseas and military voters, which have until Tuesday to arrive at county election offices and be counted.
“With over 100,000 ballots left to be counted in Pennsylvania, the race has not been decided,” a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in an email on Monday. “As is custom, we will invite the winner once the votes are counted.”
The counting of provisional votes occurs in every election whether it is close or not. But the process has earned extra attention in Pennsylvania this year because the race is close and Casey’s campaign has continued to argue the remaining ballots could swing the race.
That outcome appears unlikely as the candidates were separated by more than 40,000 votes Monday morning.
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat leading the Senate race in Arizona, has also not been invited to orientation yet — though AP has not yet called that race, making the dynamic different from McCormick’s presumed victory.
Many media outlets rely on AP to call races, which has a long track record of accurately declaring winners in even the closest of elections. “If our race callers cannot definitively say a candidate has won, we do not engage in speculation,” AP says in its guide to its process.
On Thursday, McCormick spokesperson Elizabeth Gregory said that “while votes continue to be counted,” McCormick will win “any way you slice it.”
Schumer’s party lost control of the Senate as Republicans made gains in Congress and the White House last week. Republicans have spoken against his decision to exclude McCormick on social media.
Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican vying to be the next majority leader, pointed to AP’s call and said “they did the same thing to me after I beat a Democrat in 2018.” Scott, who faced a recount, participated in his party’s leadership elections but did not attend attending the broader bipartisan orientation, according to his office.
McCormick’s team pointed to a social media post from the businessman saying he looks forward to the orientation. It’s possible that McCormick will attend Republican caucus events and not bipartisan activities.
Casey’s campaign did not immediately comment Monday.
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