HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) 鈥� Republican has won Pennsylvania鈥檚 pivotal U.S. Senate seat, as the former CEO of the world鈥檚 largest hedge fund beat three-term Democratic Sen. in Tuesday鈥檚 election after accusing the incumbent of supporting policies that led to inflation, domestic turmoil and war.
The victory pads Republicans' majority in the Senate, which they , and clocked in as the nation鈥檚 second-most expensive race while playing out alongside the presidential contest in the nation's premier battleground state.
McCormick, 59, recaptured a GOP seat in Pennsylvania after Republicans lost one in 2022, paying off a bet that made when they urged McCormick to run and consolidated support behind him.
Republican strategists largely credited Donald Trump's strong performance in Pennsylvania, beating Vice President in the state by about 2%, as Democrats navigated headwinds like voter dissatisfaction over inflation under President .
That was enough to help pull McCormick to victory, they said.
McCormick drew on contacts from across the worlds of government, politics and finance to secure backing for his campaign after he was , the world鈥檚 largest hedge fund, and served at the highest levels of former President George W. Bush鈥檚 administration.
Beating Casey is earth-shaking for Pennsylvania鈥檚 Democratic establishment. Casey is the namesake of a former two-term governor and Pennsylvania鈥檚 longest-serving Democrat ever in the Senate.
Until Tuesday, Casey, 64, had won six statewide general elections going back to 1996, but he had never been on the same ballot as Trump.
With votes still being counted, McCormick led Casey by about 31,000 votes, or half a percentage point.
Casey did not concede Thursday, and his campaign pointed to a statement from the state's top election official that at least 100,000 ballots still remained to be counted, including provisional ballots and military and overseas ballots.
鈥淲e will make sure every Pennsylvanian鈥檚 voice is heard,鈥� Casey's campaign said.
McCormick drummed out the consistent message that Casey was a do-nothing and weak career politician who was a key ally of Biden and Harris. McCormick maintained that he would bring leadership to the job.
It was McCormick鈥檚 running, this time with a clear primary and Trump鈥檚 endorsement, after he to the Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022鈥檚 expensive seven-way primary.
His wealth 鈥� he'll be one of the wealthiest senators when he joins the chamber 鈥� and connections got him flagged by Republicans as someone who could both raise campaign cash and pay his own way for a Senate campaign.
McCormick also benefited from tens of millions of dollars in campaign cash from allies from across the worlds of hedge funds and securities trading.
He ran an energetic campaign, often traveling by bus around the state, and appeared on stage at almost every Trump rally in Pennsylvania, Trump's most visited state.
McCormick was also at ease in front of TV cameras, a skill he honed as a top Treasury Department official giving regular media briefings during the onset of the 2008-09 recession and a well-known figure on Wall Street who was sought after for speaking engagements.
He has a long resume that includes being decorated for his Army service in the Gulf War, earning a Ph.D from Princeton University, running online auction house FreeMarkets Inc. 鈥� which had its name on a skyscraper in Pittsburgh during the tech boom 鈥� and sitting on the boards of prominent institutions, including Trump鈥檚 Defense Advisory Board.
McCormick had baggage, too.
He repeatedly tried to soften his stance against abortion rights after celebrating the Supreme Court鈥檚 2022 decision to overturn 1972鈥檚 landmark Roe v. Wade decision and end a half-century of federal protection of the right to an abortion. In the end, McCormick insisted that he would oppose a federal ban on abortion and leave in place Pennsylvania鈥檚 law that allows an abortion up to the 24th week of gestation.
He also worked to ease concerns over Republican control of the Senate, saying he wouldn't vote to end the filibuster, a that effectively makes 60 the minimum number of votes needed to pass legislation as a means to provide a check on the majority.
McCormick had to absorb accusations 鈥� first in 2022鈥檚 GOP primary and then again by Casey 鈥� that he was a rich carpetbagger from Connecticut鈥檚 ritzy trying to buy a Senate seat. McCormick lived there until he ran for Senate in 2022 and, while he bought a house in Pittsburgh, he also maintained a massive home in Connecticut until a daughter graduated high school earlier this year.
McCormick, in turn, stressed his in Pennsylvania, talked up his high school days wrestling in towns across northern Pennsylvania 鈥� a sport that took him to the U.S. military academy at West Point 鈥� and growing up the son of two educators. His father became the first chancellor of Pennsylvania鈥檚 state-owned university system 鈥� under Casey鈥檚 father.
Still, McCormick helped bring the carpetbagger caricature to life by mispronouncing the name of one of Pennsylvania鈥檚 best-known local beers.
McCormick also suffered through a legion of attacks on his hedge fund鈥檚 investments, including accusations that he at America鈥檚 expense by buying shares in Chinese companies that the federal government later came to consider part of Beijing鈥檚 military and surveillance industrial complex.
McCormick, meanwhile, tried to capitalize on turmoil in the Middle East and at the U.S. southern border with Mexico.
McCormick blamed Casey for supporting Biden administration border policies that he said had enabled illegal immigration and for backing policies that he said had empowered Iran to destabilize the Middle East.
He by traveling to the Israel-Gaza border, speaking to Jewish audiences across the state and arguing that Casey and the Biden administration have not fought or backed Israel strongly enough in the .
On the border, he backed Trump鈥檚 pledge to carry out a mass deportation of immigrants in the country without permission 鈥� prioritizing people with criminal records 鈥� and vowed to press for U.S. in Mexico to target fentanyl trafficking networks, a controversial idea that originated with Trump.
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Marc Levy, The Associated Press
