Democratic Sen. Bob Casey on Thursday conceded the high stakes Pennsylvania Senate race to Republican Dave McCormick.
“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,’” he said in a video posted on X. “Thank you for your trust in me for all these years, Pennsylvania. It has been the honor of my lifetime.”
McCormick’s victory is a major upset for the three-term Democratic incumbent in the key battleground state, which also swung back to Donald Trump on the presidential level this year.
The Senate race had tightened in the final months of the campaign, but Casey had an edge in most polling of the race for much of his campaign against McCormick, a former hedge fund executive who lost a bid for the state’s other Senate seat in 2022. Republicans and Democrats alike spent big in Pennsylvania as it emerged as a pivotal battleground up and down the ballot.
McCormick frequently appeared with Trump at his rallies this year after losing out on the former president’s endorsement during the primary two years ago. And although the GOP Senate nominee often appeared to be running behind Trump in his contest with Vice President Kamala Harris in public polling of the race, he and his GOP allies leaned into the issue of immigration, which was at the center of the Republican Party’s 2024 election strategy.