I get it — it is hard to give up flying with the eagles to go running with the chickens. To be a United States Senator is tremendously prestigious. To have won six statewide elections by significant margins is a great accomplishment. And to add to it, to be the son of one of Pennsylvania’s better governors speaks of a heritage that is hard to ignore. However, Bob Casey has “junior” after his name because he is not his father, and it shows.
Since 1997, Democrat Bob Casey Jr. has served in public office for Pennsylvania. He was state auditor general and then state treasurer, and since 2006, he has held three full terms as a United States Senator in Washington, D.C. But McCormick’s top campaign adviser, Brad Todd, discovered that his strength was overstated. “A lot of people were familiar with his name, but nobody was familiar with anything he had done or was working on doing.”
Thus, in the November 2024 election, Casey fell short by 16,367 votes over Republican Dave McCormick. Since the difference in the vote was less than 0.05 percent, by Pennsylvania law, it could be challenged.
Now, a little history here. According to fairvote.org, there have been 6,929 statewide general elections between 2000 and 2023, and of these, there were 36 statewide recounts. It is extremely rare for a recount to change the winner. The last one that changed the result was in the 2008 US Senate in Minnesota. In that race with 1.3 million votes, the difference between the candidates was just 91 votes.
Bob Casey, Jr. had to know that the odds of overcoming the election were astronomical at best. Yet, not unlike Don Quixote attacking windmills, Casey wanted a recount. On Tuesday, November 19th, the day before the recount was to begin, Casey announced, “The American democratic process was born in Pennsylvania, and that process will play out.”
On McCormick’s side, it was deja vu. He called for a recount in the 2022 PA Republican primary Senate race against Mehmet Oz when he was defeated by around 1,000 votes. After that recount, the final count went down to 951. Multiply this by sixteen, which is what Casey was looking at, and it becomes very obvious that unless there was some serious hanky-panky going on, Dave McCormick would very easily win this election fair and square.
And this might have been what was in his mind. It seemed that Casey was putting all his eggs in the basket of ballots that arrived in the mail, which were misdated, undated, or unsigned and thus not counted. When the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled that these ballots were not to be counted, the latest Queen of Hearts, Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, who, in a classic “off with their heads” attitude, announced at a board meeting on Thursday, November 14th that Bucks County was defying the court and would count them. She boldly said, “I think we all know that precedent in our courts doesn’t matter anymore in our country. And people violate laws all they want. So, for me, if I am going to violate this law, it is because I want the court to pay attention to it.”
Well, Commissioner, you got what you wanted; they sure paid attention. Four days later, in no uncertain terms, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ordered with BOLD PRINT to make the point that “…all Respondents, including the Boards of Elections in Bucks County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia County, SHALL COMPLY with the prior rulings of this Court in which we have clarified that mail-in and absentee ballots that fail to comply with the requirements of the Pennsylvania Election Code, see 25 P.S. §§ 3146.6(a), 3150.16(a), SHALL NOT BE COUNTED.”
The recount began on Wednesday, November 20th, and was given a week to complete, but amazingly, it was all over in one day. Lycoming County went through 59,555 votes, 17,354 for Casey and 40,672 for McCormick, and after the recount, Casey gained (wait for it!) ONE vote more.
Similar counts showed up around the state, and Casey finally threw in the towel the following day. He remarked on X, “I just called Dave McCormick to congratulate him on his election to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate.” McCormick was conciliatory in response, “Senator Bob Casey dedicated his career to bettering our commonwealth. I am so honored to represent every single citizen in Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and will fight for you every day.”
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had to spend over $1 million to do this recount. Hundreds of poll counters throughout the state did exceptional work. What was accomplished? All that cost and all that work ultimately was just to satisfy one man’s ego. Congratulations to Dave McCormick, the winner and champion in a hard-fought, antagonistic, and difficult election.
