Pennsylvania Sen.-elect David McCormick struck a conciliatory tone during his victory speech in Pittsburgh on Friday, thanking the now-incumbent Democratic Party. Senator Bob Casey Jr. and his family for their decades of public service to the Commonwealth.

McCormick said Casey and his namesake father — a pro-life moderate who served as governor in the 1980s and 1990s — deserve a lot of respect for “serving … with honor.” Young Casey has served three terms since losing to conservative Sen. Rick Santorum in 2006.

“I want to start with a simple message of absolute gratitude: gratitude to be here, on this beautiful day, in a city that means so much to my family. My father went to college at Pitt. We had some of the years most formative of our lives here. Three of our daughters were born here,” McCormick said.

“…Gratitude to the people of Pennsylvania for honoring us with service at such an important time for our country: gratitude to the incredible campaign team.”

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Senator Bob Casey Jr., Senator-elect David McCormick (Getty Images)

The hedge fund executive was born in nearby Washington, Pennsylvania, and raised in Columbia County, across the commonwealth, where his father was president of Bloomsburg University.

He joked that, like Casey, he knows what it means to lose a close election, as cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz narrowly beat him in the 2022 primary to replace incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.

McCormick said he has already spoken with President-elect Donald Trump and is ready to get to work advancing the mogul’s agenda in the Senate.

“We’ve heard a common refrain: The message we’ve heard over and over again is that we need change. The country is going in the wrong direction. We need leadership to get our economy back on track and get this horrible situation under control. inflation,” McCormick said. said.

“We need leadership to secure the border to end this scourge of fentanyl. The most heartbreaking thing we have encountered are parents who along the way have lost a child to fentanyl. . We have learned time and time again that the path to unlocking Pennsylvania’s future is energy.”

Again welcoming the narrow margin of victory, McCormick pledged to be the senator for all Pennsylvanians: “I don’t care who voted for me and who didn’t vote for me.”

He also offered to contact Governor Josh Shapiro, whose name is already mentioned in the press as one of the Democratic favorites in the 2028 presidential election, as well as in the Republican-majority state Senate and House, which the Democrats would apparently retain by one member. .

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Bob Casey Jr. (Marc Makela/Getty)

However, Casey’s campaign is not yet conceding the race — which has been called for McCormick by the Associated Press. In a statement just before McCormick took the stage, Casey’s campaign highlighted two lawsuits filed by McCormick’s team. in Philadelphia challenging approximately 15,000 provisional ballots.

McCormick’s campaign aimed to sequester a portion of these provisional ballots from voters who had cast absentee ballots that were now rejected, canceled “for procedural defects” and provisions that may include mismatched signatures or missing secrecy envelopes, according to the Philadelphia Investigator.

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Dave McCormick speaks during a campaign rally for Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show Inc. on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Getty Images)

Deep red Cambria County remained the only other county with a large proportion of votes outstanding Thursday evening. However, the only House race that has yet to be called – in East Taylor – is favored by Democrats. This could result in a slight advantage in favor of Casey, based on historical voting patterns.

The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat newspaper reported, just as McCormick took the stage, that the Democrat, state Rep. Frank Burns, would take his seat.

After the speech, McCormick answered a few questions, including one about the lawsuits.

“Basically, if you look at all the math and why the AP called the races, there’s no way Sen. Casey is going to overtake my lead. . . . But there are ballots that will continue to be counted and (the) pursuits (are) just to make sure that there are a sufficient number of observers that are overseeing that counting process,” he said.

McCormick currently leads by about 30,000 votes, but the race remains within the 0.5% margin that triggers an automatic statewide recount.