On Thursday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) expressed his dissatisfaction with The Associated Press’s decision to call the Pennsylvania Senate race, asserting that the media outlet jumped the gun. He emphasized that the race was not yet decided, given the large number of votes still awaiting counting across the state.
Fetterman took to social media to voice his concerns, stating, “We still have tens of thousands of votes to be counted across the Commonwealth,” and argued that The AP should refrain from making a final call until all ballots from Pennsylvania have been counted.
The Associated Press had declared Republican challenger Dave McCormick the winner in his race against Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey on Thursday. However, other outlets, such as Decision Desk HQ, had yet to make a call on the race.
As of 6 p.m. EST, McCormick held a slim lead of 0.5 percentage points, with 49 percent of the vote compared to Casey’s 48.5 percent, according to Decision Desk HQ’s election results.
In response to the AP’s announcement, Maddy McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Casey campaign, pointed out that there were still numbers of ballots to be counted, including provisional, military, overseas, and mail-in votes.
McDaniel emphasized that, given the tight margin, the race could not be called with so many votes left to be counted, stressing that the campaign would ensure every Pennsylvanian’s vote was heard.
McCormick’s campaign communications director, Elizabeth Gregory, quickly responded to the AP’s call on X, expressing her pride in the team by posting, “So damn proud of this team.”