Casey Concedes Pennsylvania Senate Race, GOP Holds 53 Seats

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Facts

  • Incumbent Pennsylvania Democratic US Sen. Bob Casey on Thursday conceded to Republican Dave McCormick, giving the GOP a 53-47 advantage in the Senate starting in January.[1][2]
  • Although the Associated Press called the election for McCormick on Nov. 7 — two days after election day — Casey waited to concede because the margin of less than 0.5% triggered a recount. As of Thursday, McCormick led by approximately 16K votes out of 7M.[1]
  • In conceding and ending the state's expensive recount, the three-term incumbent Casey in a statement said, 'Pennsylvanians can move forward' knowing 'their voices were heard' in one of the closest elections in the commonwealth's history. Previously, Pres.-elect Donald Trump also won the state.[3][4]
  • This comes after the state Supreme Court denied an attempt by state Democrats to count undated ballots statewide in opposition to state election law.[2]
  • However, Casey's campaign had successfully advocated for counting thousands of provisional ballots that might have been discarded due to election worker errors.[1]
  • With the Senate heavily Republican, Trump's cabinet picks could have a smoother path to confirmation. The GOP also holds a majority in the House.[5]

Sources: [1]Associated Press, [2]New York Post, [3]USA Today, [4]CNN and [5]NBC.

Narratives

  • Republican narrative, as provided by Federalist and PJ Media. While trying to sell himself as a savior for democracy, Casey made the state waste taxpayer money on a recount and dragged out this election with legal maneuvers that were most definitely undemocratic. Republicans knew it was impossible for Casey to pass McCormick, but Casey pushed it anyway, unsurprisingly, to no avail.
  • Democratic narrative, as provided by Huffington Post and New York Times. Casey leaves a legacy as one of Pennsylvania's great Senators who kept his politics in the middle of the road and put his constituents first. He'll be missed, but his loss should be a lesson to Democrats — who are coming to terms with needing to better appeal to working-class white voters who now favor candidates like McCormick and Trump.

Predictions