Marco Rubio claims Senator-elect Dave McCormick not invited to Senate orientation

Sen. Marco Rubio is calling hypocrisy after he claims Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer is icing out Pennsylvania Sen.-elect Dave McCormick from the Senate orientation later this week since his Democratic opponent still hasn’t conceded.

“Schumer [New York Democrat] is not allowing @DaveMcCormickPA to participate in Senate orientation this week because [Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob] Casey refuses to concede the race. What happened to all the demands that our leaders accept the outcome of the elections?” Mr. Rubio, a Republican, wrote on X Sunday.

Democrats had raised concerns about President-elect Donald Trump not conceding the race if he lost this go around. He still has yet to say that he lost the 2020 election to President Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the election to Mr. Trump, said in her speech that she would work with Mr. Biden to facilitate a peaceful transfer of power.

Mr. Casey has held his Senate seat since 2007. The Associated Press called the race in favor of Mr. McCormick, a Republican, on Thursday but Mr. Casey refuses to give it up.

“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. “Pennsylvanians deserve to have their voices heard, and as state officials have made clear, counties across Pennsylvania need more time to tabulate remaining votes.”

But Mr. McCormick already gave his victory speech on Friday, and on Sunday 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.”

“And, ultimately, Sen. Casey’s going to have to decide when he’s ready to acknowledge that. I lost a close election by 900 votes in 2022. I know it’s tough to do that,” he said. “So, Sen. Casey has all the prerogatives that he wishes to come to the right conclusion. But the good news is the math doesn’t work except in my favor, and that’s why I’m moving forward.”

As of Sunday, the race is 99% reported, with Mr. McCormick leading with 49% to Mr. Casey’s 48.4%. The Senate seat was a key race for Democrats, who have already lost the majority of the Senate to Republicans.

The Washington Times has reached out to Mr. Schumer for comment.