Dave McCormick is not invited to Senate orientation

From Tuesday to Thursday this week, accepted senators will be able to learn the secrets of their modern job.

But even though Republican businessman Dave McCormick celebrated a shock Senate victory in Pennsylvania, he was not invited to the event.

The Associated Press called the race for McCormick last week, but Sen. Bob Casey (R-Pa.) has not conceded the race and a recount is possible given the narrow lead. As of Friday, more than 100,000 votes had not yet been counted, but many of them may have been rejected.

The ballots consisted mostly of provisional ballots, which counties are in the process of determining whether they count, and those cast by overseas and military voters, which are expected to arrive at county election offices and be counted by Tuesday.

“With over 100,000 votes left to be counted in Pennsylvania, the race has not yet been decided,” he added. – a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in an email on Monday. “As is customary, we will invite the winner after the votes are counted.”

The counting of provisional votes takes place in every election, whether it is close or not. But the process has drawn particular attention in Pennsylvania this year as the race is already close and the Casey campaign continues to argue that remaining ballots could determine the fate of the race.

This outcome seems unlikely because the candidates were separated by more than 40,000 votes on Monday morning.

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, the Democrat leading the Arizona Senate race, also has not yet been invited to orientation, although the AP has not yet called that race, making the election dynamics different from McCormick’s presumed victory.

The Inquirer and other outlets rely on the AP to call races, which has a long track record of accurately announcing winners even in the next election. “If our interlocutors cannot definitively say that a candidate won, we do not engage in speculation” – AP says in your process guide.

On Thursday, McCormick spokeswoman Elizabeth Gregory said that “while votes will continue to be counted,” McCormick will win “no matter how you slice it.”

Schumer’s party lost control of the Senate as Republicans gained control of Congress and the White House last week. Republicans spoke out against his decision to ban McCormick from social media.

Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican running to be the next majority leader, pointed to the AP’s call and he said “They did the same thing to me when I beat a Democrat in 2018.” Scott who faced a recounthe participated in his party’s leadership elections, but – according to his office – he did not participate in a broader cross-party orientation.

McCormick’s team pointed to a social media post from the businessman in which he said he was looking forward to the training. It’s possible McCormick will attend Republican caucus events rather than bipartisan activities.

Casey’s campaign had no immediate comment Monday.

Staff writer Katie Bernard contributed to this article.