Republican Dave McCormick wins Pennsylvania Senate seat in key race | US elections 2024

Republican Dave McCormick won the Senate race in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Thursday, denying Democratic incumbent Bob Casey a fourth term and expanding his party's majority in the upper chamber.

When the Associated Press called the race at 4:09 p.m. ET on Thursday, two days after polls closed in Pennsylvania, McCormick was ahead by 0.4 points. The narrow margin raised the possibility of a recount, although his victory is expected to stand given his lead of about 30,000 votes.

A spokesman for Casey insisted that thousands of ballots had not yet been counted and refused to give the race to McCormick yet.

“As the Pennsylvania Secretary of State said this afternoon, tens of thousands of ballots remain to be counted across the Commonwealth, including provisional ballots, military and overseas ballots, and mail-in ballots,” Casey spokeswoman Maddy McDaniel said in a statement. “This race is within half a point and cannot be contested while the votes of thousands of Pennsylvanians are still being counted. We will ensure that the voice of every Pennsylvanian is heard.”

With McCormick's victory, the Republicans have now secured at least 53 seats in the Senate, thereby destroying the Democrats' previous majority in the chamber. Two Senate races in Nevada and Arizona were still too close to decide as of Thursday afternoon.

Although he came up short, Casey outperformed Kamala Harris, who lost Pennsylvania to Donald Trump by two points. Trump also won the other two blue wall states, Michigan and Wisconsin, but Democrats were able to retain both of the Senate seats up for grabs in those states.

The call in Pennsylvania capped a contentious and expensive Senate race in which the two candidates delivered pointed attacks on the cost of living, access to abortion and McCormick's recent stay in Connecticut. Casey attacked McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, as out of touch, while McCormick linked Casey to the Biden administration's “reckless” government spending.

At their debate last month, Casey derided McCormick as “bought and paid for by these billionaires and corporations.” McCormick returned fire, saying, “If you don't have a track record, which Senator Casey doesn't, attack your opponent.”

The race's high stakes made it one of the most expensive Senate elections in the country, with the dueling campaigns and their allies spending more than $300 million on advertising. A pro-McCormick organization, the Keystone Renewal Pac, spent at least $54 million on the race, making the group the largest-spending single-candidate Pac to enter a Senate race this election cycle.

Most public polls of the race showed Casey leading by several points until McCormick narrowed that gap to just a few points in recent weeks. Despite this trend, Casey appeared to be in a slightly stronger position than Harris, who ran neck-and-neck against Trump in Pennsylvania until Election Day. Leaders of both parties had identified Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes as a potential turning point in the presidential race.

“I think both races will be very close, but I think the people of our state know it's a very, very clear decision,” Casey told the Guardian in September. “It’s never been so clear.”

Before Election Day, Democrats had a 51-49 majority in the Senate. Republican victories in Montana, Ohio and West Virginia had already secured control of the Senate, but McCormick's victory will give the party even more leverage to push through Trump's agenda when the new Congress meets in January.

Read more of the Guardian's coverage of the 2024 US election