A group of Senate GOP lawmakers say they are ready to defy Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and escort Republican Sen.-elect David McCormick of Pennsylvania into the lower chamber so he can participate in new member orientation this week.
“I’m willing to personally escort Dave McCormick into the Capitol for new-senator orientation,” said Sen. Mike Lee of Utah on X. “I’d like to see how they’d keep him out if he literally walked into ‘the room where it happens.’”
Mr. Lee said, Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri “has indicated he’ll join the effort. I’d welcome other senators to join us!”
Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama responded to Mr. Lee’s call.
“I’ll be right there alongside you, Mike. Dave McCormick is the Senator-elect for Pennsylvania,” Ms. Britt said. “And deserves to be at orientation alongside every other member of his freshman class.”
Senate Republicans, who are about to re-take the majority in the chamber in January, became angered when it became known to members that Mr. Schumer would not allow Mr. McCormick to participate in new member orientation because Sen. Bob Casey refused to concede the outcome of the election to Mr. McCormick last Tuesday.
“What happened to all the demands that our leaders accept the outcome of the elections?” Mr. Rubio, Florida Republican, wrote on X Sunday.
Outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said on X, “In 2018, my race wasn’t called for 6 days. I jumped on a redeye to DC to make senate orientation,” Ms. Sinema said.
“I learned so much & made lasting relationships that week. Dave McCormick & Ruben Gallego will be Senators for PA & AZ. They should be invited to orientation & start learning the job.”
Mr. Gallego, Arizona Democrat, has also not been invited by Mr. Schumer to orientation as the Associated Press has not called his race against Republican Kari Lake. Mr. Gallego is ahead of Ms. Lake by about 48,000 votes.
Mr. McCormick is leading Mr. Casey by 0.5 percentage points, a margin that would trigger an automatic recount under state law if it holds.
The Associated Press called the race for Mr. McCormick last Thursday afternoon, reporting that 99% of the ballots had been counted. On Friday, the outlet retained its call but changed the percentage of ballots counted to 98%.
Mr. Casey, a three-term senator, believes there is a possibility he can still win by counting provisional ballots.
“Each day, counties across the Commonwealth are confirming there are more ballots that need to be counted. We know there are more than 100,000 ballots left to be counted including tens of thousands of provisional ballots in counties favorable to Senator Casey, and the McCormick campaign has acknowledged these provisional ballots could impact the outcome of the election while pursuing unsuccessful lawsuits to get them thrown out,” Maddy McDaniel, spokesperson for the Casey campaign told the Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Sunday in a statement.
Mr. McCormick on Friday filed a petition and complaint challenging a batch of 15,000-20,000 provisional ballots to the Philadelphia County Board of Elections that was set to start curing on Friday.
The Pennsylvania Republican is petitioning the court for a special injunction to permit the provisional ballots to be challenged in groupings where they “share the same deficiency” rather than individually.
He previously delivered a victory speech on Friday. On Sunday, he said there was no path for Mr. Casey to win.
“Well the AP called this race a number of days ago because, mathematically, there’s no path for Sen. Casey to win. Currently, I’m up by something like 40,000 votes, which is a very significant margin,” he said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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