Republican David McCormick has won the Pennsylvania Senate race, defeating the Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

Casey and McCormick waged one of the more negative and personal Senate races of the cycle, with Casey attacking former hedge fund executive McCormick as an out-of-touch carpetbagger for maintaining a residence in Connecticut in addition to his Pennsylvania home.

With McCormick's victory, Republicans have expanded their Senate majority in the next Congress to 53 seats, with two races still to be called.

McCormick was a return candidate. He lost the 2022 GOP Senate primary to celebrity TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, who went on to lose that November. This time, McCormick had no primary challenge and the quick support of Senate Republicans’ campaign operation and President-elect Donald Trump’s early endorsement in the race.

Casey’s ties to the state run much deeper: he’s the son of former senator and governor Bob Casey Sr., and he himself has successfully won statewide elections six times prior to 2024.

While Casey enjoyed early leads in polling for much of the year, the race rapidly tightened in the closing weeks and quickly aligned with the presidential face-off, holding a statistical tie and with an expected outcome unlikely to differentiate from the top of the ticket.

Copyright 2024 NPR

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