McCormick eyes ‘ruby red’ county to put him over the top in tight PA Senate battle

Longtime Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick are still wading through their election results, with McCormick's campaign saying that even though the race is tight, the Republican will prevail. 

"McCormick is up 30,679 votes with more to come, as ruby red Cambria County is still outstanding. While votes continue to be counted, any way you slice it, Dave McCormick will be the next United States Senator from Pennsylvania," Elizabeth Gregory, McCormick's communications director, said in a comment Thursday provided to Fox News Digital. 

More than 98% of the votes have been tabulated in the high-stakes Senate race, with McCormick showing a slight lead over Casey, at 48.94% to Casey's 48.49% support, Fox News's race results show. The results are too close to make an official call, and they will likely face a recount. As of Thursday afternoon, 31,503 difference in McCormick's favor. 

Cambria County, which is home to the city of Johnstown, is a reliably red jurisdiction that was granted a two-hour extension of polling hours on Tuesday after a "software malfunction" temporarily delayed the scanning of ballots in the precinct. The county has voted for Republican presidential candidates each cycle since Mitt Romney's 2012 run. 

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Pennsylvania has three recount options: statewide automatic recounts ordered by the secretary of the commonwealth; recounts ordered by a county election board; and recounts that are ordered by the court. 

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An automatic recount would occur in this case if a candidate's margin of victory is no more than 0.5% of total votes cast. A recount submission must be submitted to the Pennsylvania Secretary of State's office no later than 5 p.m. on the second Thursday after Election Day. 

The Casey campaign touted earlier Thursday that they, too, are confident that the senator will end the campaign with another re-election win. 

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"The count in Pennsylvania is still continuing," Casey for Senate spokesperson Maddy McDaniel said earlier on Thursday. "Yesterday, the vote margin shrunk by 50,000 votes and this race is now within half a point, the threshold for automatic recounts in Pennsylvania. With tens of thousands more votes to be counted, we are committed to ensuring every Pennsylvanian's vote is heard and confident that at the end of that process, Senator Casey will be re-elected."

Casey has served in the Senate since the 2006 cycle. He faced his most uphill election battle this year against McCormick, an Army combat veteran and former CEO of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates.