Oz, McCormick on track for recount in tight Pennsylvania Senate GOP primary
The closely watched Republican US Senate primary in Pennsylvania appeared headed for an automatic recount Wednesday morning, as just over 2,500 votes separated Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick with thousands of ballots left to be counted.
With about 95% of the expected votes tallied as of 8 a.m. Wednesday, Oz had 31.3% of the vote compared to 31.1% for McCormick. Insurgent candidate Kathy Barnette was in a distant third place with 24.8% of the vote.
Under Pennsylvania law, a recount is automatically triggered if the margin of victory in any statewide race is 0.5% or fewer. The commonwealth’s secretary of state has until May 26 to order any recount.
Both Oz and McCormick remained confident after the polls closed Tuesday night, refusing to concede and telling supporters not to expect a result right away.
“Unfortunately, we’re not going to have resolution tonight, but we can see the path ahead, we can see victory ahead and it’s all because of you,” McCormick said, according to WGAL.
“We are making a ferocious charge, but when it’s this close, what else do you expect?” Oz said minutes later.
At least 20,000 GOP mail-in ballots reportedly remain to be counted, along with thousands of Election Day votes. According to NBC’s Steve Kornacki, the largest single remaining source of Election Day ballots was in McCormick’s home base of Allegheny County, where between 6,000 and 7,000 votes are likely outstanding. A large number of Election Day votes also need to be counted in Delaware County, outside Philadelphia, where McCormick currently holds a razor-thin lead over Oz.
“Based on how many uncounted absentee ballots there are and the margin by which Dave has won them so far, that’s why we are confident of victory. Dave will win this race,” tweeted McCormick consultant Jeff Roe late Tuesday.
Oz, the longtime host of “The Dr. Oz Show” who has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, would be the nation’s first Muslim senator, while McCormick, who earned $22 million last year, would be one of Congress’s richest members.
Trump visited Pennsylvania to stump for Oz in the final stretch of the campaign, but journalists noted that some crowd members jeered the onetime Oprah Winfrey sidekick, whose participation in Turkish elections and PR work for Turkish Airlines emerged as campaign issues.
Whoever wins the GOP Senate primary will face left-wing Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who easily defeated US Rep. Conor Lamb and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta in the Democratic primary despite undergoing surgery on voting day to install a pacemaker and a defibrillator after suffering a stroke late last week.
McCormick — the former CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund — garnered support from Trump White House advisers Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks, as well as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. A super PAC backing McCormick’s candidacy reportedly spent more than $17 million, dwarfing the approximately $3 million spent by a similar group backing Oz.
However, the 45th president passed on endorsing McCormick — who is also married to former Trump deputy national security adviser Dina Powell — despite aggressive lobbying from fellow Republicans.
McCormick’s campaign had been buffeted by criticism of Bridgewater’s decision to raise $1.25 billion last year for new investments in China — making the firm one of the top foreign investors in China. His allies were also forced to deny that he offshored jobs to India at a different company.
In the race for Pennsylvania governor, state Sen. Doug Mastriano was projected to win the Republican primary in a big victory for Trump, who opted to back him.
The endorsement from the former president came as Mastriano was already polling ahead of former Rep. Lou Barletta — a longtime Trump supporter — and former Philadelphia US Attorney William McSwain.
The only drama in the Democratic primary for governor came when Josh Shapiro, the state attorney general who sought the nomination unopposed, announced Tuesday that he had contracted a mild case of COVID-19 that was forcing him from the campaign trail.
Despite an expected favorable national environment for Republicans in November, some Keystone State GOPers fear Mastriano is too radical to win the general election against Shapiro and could drag down the Senate nominee with him.
“There is no one in Pennsylvania who has done more, or fought harder, for election integrity than state Senator Doug Mastriano,” Trump said in his endorsement announcement Saturday. “He has revealed the deceit, corruption and outright theft of the 2020 presidential election, and will do something about it.”
Mastriano organized bus trips to Washington for Trump supporters to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally that precipitated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, and was spotted in video footage walking with his wife through breached barricades.
During the campaign, Mastriano has pledged to require voters to “re-register” to vote — even though that’s barred by the National Voter Registration Act and likely violates protections under federal and possibly state law.
Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat elected in 2014, is unable to run for reelection due to term limits.
Additional reporting by Steven Nelson
