After the Associated Press called the race in his favor, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick gave a victory speech in Pittsburgh on Friday, thanking incumbent Sen. Bob Casey for his service to Pennsylvania and urging him to concede.
“I also recognize what it’s like to lose a close election,” McCormick said Friday, pointing to Pennsylvania’s 2022 GOP U.S. Senate primary, where he lost to Mehmet Oz by less than 1,000 votes. “We knew on election night we had won, because the math was clear and there’s no way for Senator Casey to win, and the AP certainly recognized that yesterday by calling the race.”
But on Saturday morning, as ballots continued to be counted that could determine whether he would be Pennsylvania’s next U.S. Senator, McCormick flew to Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Casey hammered McCormick for his Connecticut connection throughout the campaign, repeatedly pointing to an August 2023 AP article which maintained that the former hedge fund CEO continued to live in Connecticut even as he sought to represent the people of Pennsylvania.
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Flight records show a private plane previously connected to McCormick left Pittsburgh the morning of Nov. 9 bound for Bridgeport. As Vanity Fair reported last year, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records show McCormick is part owner of four Platius PC-12 planes as part of PlaneSense’s PC-12 fractional ownership program. PlaneSense provides people who purchase one of its planes access to a fleet of private planes.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in March that after launching a statewide bus tour of Pennsylvania, where he said he would “live on the bus” McCormick flew back to Connecticut that same day. McCormick has said that the reason he travels to Connecticut is because his youngest daughter from a previous marriage lives there, and he visits frequently.
Elizabeth Gregory, communications director for the McCormick campaign said in a social media post Sunday that McCormick “went to his daughter’s soccer game — the first he was able to make it to this season. Like her dad, she won! Dave was back in PA that night. Please stop with this unseemly desperation.”
The Associated Press, which calculates election outcomes based on a number of factors, including votes remaining, called the race for McCormick on Thursday. But the Pennsylvania Secretary of State noted not long afterward that there were “at least 100,000 ballots remaining to be adjudicated, including provisional, military, overseas, and Election Day votes.” And Casey has not conceded.
“I have dedicated my life to making sure Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard, whether on the floor of the Senate or in a free and fair election,” Casey said in a statement Thursday evening. “It has been made clear there are more than 100,000 votes still to be counted. Pennsylvania is where our democratic process was born. We must allow that process to play out and ensure that every vote that is eligible to be counted will be counted. That is what Pennsylvania deserves.”
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PBS NewsHour correspondent Lisa Desjardins reported Friday that the AP told her it had “estimated 109,000 ballots were still outstanding. Up from 91,000 the day before. That is – they stress and I stress – an estimate. And they adjust it as they get more information.”
In a post from its “decision team” on Friday, the AP said “McCormick’s lead grew on Friday as more Election Day votes were added to the count in Republican-leaning Cambria County and some smaller counties completed the process of assessing and adding provisional ballots to the count. That lead may shrink over the coming days, however, as provisional ballots from more Democratic-leaning areas are reviewed by election officials.”
Other news outlets, including DecisionDesk HQ and NBC News, have not yet called the race as of Sunday morning.
And, when the tally is calculated, if the margin of votes is 0.5% or lower, it would trigger a recount under Pennsylvania law.
On Friday in Philadelphia, the same day McCormick held his victory rally in Pittsburgh, a Common Pleas Court judge rejected McCormick’s request to increase the number of GOP observers in the counting of provisional ballots. McCormick withdrew a second lawsuit seeking a “global challenge” to provisional ballots.
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“Each day, counties across the Commonwealth are confirming there are more ballots that need to be counted,” Casey campaign spokesperson Maddy McDaniel said in a statement. “We know there are more than 100,000 ballots left to be counted including tens of thousands of provisional ballots in counties favorable to Senator Casey, and the McCormick campaign has acknowledged these provisional ballots could impact the outcome of the election while pursuing unsuccessful lawsuits to get them thrown out. Pennsylvanians deserve to have their voices heard, and as state officials have made clear, counties across Pennsylvania need more time to tabulate remaining votes.”
As of Sunday, unofficial results showed Casey with 3,330,514 votes, or 48.43%, to McCormick’s 3,370,659 or49.01%.
This article was updated Nov. 10, 2024 at 12:18 p.m. with a comment from the McCormick campaign
More than $22 million in “Money Match” checks were mailed to nearly 100,000 Pennsylvanians, the treasury said.
In a news release on Thursday, the Pennsylvania Treasury said people should be on the lookout for the checks, which are part of the Pennsylvania Money Match program. Treasurer Stacy Garrity said to cash or deposit the checks “promptly.”
The first Pennsylvania Money Match checks, totaling more than $1.7 million, are now on the way to Pennsylvanians’ mailboxes. Pennsylvania Money Match is a new program that allows Treasury to return certain unclaimed property to rightful owners automatically, which was approved unanimously by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor last year.
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“I want Pennsylvanians to know that this is a real check, it is real money, and it belongs to them,” Garrity said in the news release. “And as always, I still encourage everyone to regularly search for unclaimed property online, as many claims will not qualify for the Money Match process.”
With the mailing of the year’s last batch of checks, more than $50 million will have been returned automatically to Pennsylvanians.
What are Money Match checks?
The program allows the state treasury to automatically return unclaimed property valued up to $500 owned by a single individual. Before the program was created in 2024, residents themselves had to seek out unclaimed property.
“I’m thrilled to continue this program as we work hard to get more money back to its rightful owners,” Garrity said in the news release.
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However, if the property has multiple owners or is valued higher than $500, Pennsylvanians still need to file a claim.
What is unclaimed property?
Unclaimed property includes dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten stocks, rebates and insurance policies, among other things. It can also include the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes.
According to the state treasury, more than one in 10 Pennsylvanians is owed some of the $5 billion in unclaimed property in the treasury’s care, and the average value of a claim is more than $1,000.
Unclaimed property scam
On its website, the state treasury has a warning about scammers using text messages to target potential unclaimed property claimants.
The department “never reaches out to people in regard to any program, including unclaimed property, via unsolicited text messages.”
A special weather statement was issued by the National Weather Service on Friday at 10:06 a.m. until 1 p.m. for Warren, McKean, Elk, Cameron, Clearfield, Cambria and Somerset counties.
“Temperatures will drop below the freezing mark through midday with rain showers quickly changing to snow showers. Blustery winds may dry off roads and other paved surfaces, but any residual water from previous rain or melting snow could freeze up and result in slick spots through the afternoon,” explains the weather service.
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