Pennsylvania Senate Race Update: MAGA Celebrates as Bob Casey Concedes
Incumbent Senator Bob Casey Jr. conceded defeat in the Pennsylvania Senate race on Thursday to Republican challenger Dave McCormick following more than 17 years in the upper chamber of Congress.
The move sparked social media celebrations from prominent figures within Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, though one labeled Casey “the real election denier” as he waited more than two weeks after the election to concede.
The Pennsylvania Senate battle was extremely close, with The Associated Press calling the race for McCormick after reporting he was ahead on Thursday by 0.2 percent of the vote, with 3,398,627 votes against 3,382,260 for Casey. However, under Pennsylvania law, the winning margin of less than 0.5 percent triggered an automatic recount, which Casey had initially declined to wave.
Casey conceded in a three-minute, 40-second video posted on X, formerly Twitter, in which he said: “I just called Dave McCormick to congratulate him on his election to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate.”
During my time in office, I have been guided by an inscription on the Finance Building in Harrisburg: “All public service is a trust, given in faith and accepted in honor.”
Thank you for your trust in me for all these years, Pennsylvania. It has been the honor of my lifetime. pic.twitter.com/RSXEFwdge8
— Bob Casey Jr. (@Bob_Casey) November 21, 2024
The Democratic senator paid tribute to election workers and his supporters, adding: “As the first batch of ballots is completed Pennsylvanians can move forward with the knowledge that their voices were heard whether their vote was the first to be counted or the last.”
Casey’s concession was welcomed by McCormick who praised his former opponent, commenting: “Senator Bob Casey dedicated his career to bettering our Commonwealth. Dina and I want to extend our sincere gratitude to Senator Casey, Terese, and their family for their decades of service, hard work, and personal sacrifice.”
However, Casey came under intense criticism from Trump supporting conservatives in the comments, with commentator Mike Cernovich replying: “You destroyed your legacy. You are the real election denier!”
Posting in response to Casey’s video Jack Posobiec, senior editor of conservative leaning website Human Events, commented: “You will be remembered for nothing. Never come back.”
Kevin Dietsch/Allison Robbert/GETTY
Eric Daugherty, a Trump supporter and assistant news director at media outlet Florida’s Voice, said: “We knew you lost weeks ago bro.”
Popular pro-Trump X account ThePersistence, which has 2.1 million followers on the platform, commented: “It was an honor helping to defeat you & elect future Senator Dave McCormick.
“Your election denialism did serious damage to democrats in Bucks County, as well as [Governor] Shapiro’s image. We won’t forget that you tried to steal the election. Congratulations, President Trump.”
However, other X users paid tribute to Casey, with Dan Pfeiffer, a former Barack Obama advisor and co-host of the Pod Save America podcast, commenting: “Bob Casey is a truly decent human, and his presence will be missed in the Senate.”
Natalie Adams, who worked as Casey’s press secretary before joining Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, said the outgoing senator “fought hard for the most vulnerable among us in his three decades of public service. Pennsylvania and our country are better places because of it.”
McCormick’s victory means there will 53 Republican senators in the next Congress compared to 47 who are affiliated with the Democrats. The GOP also has a slim House majority, greatly enhancing President-elect Trump’s ability to get his policy proposals passed into law.
Last week, the national and Pennsylvania Republican parties launched legal challenges to prevent the counting of mail-in ballots that were either undated or incorrectly dated.
