Republicans flipped another Senate seat on Thursday, as their candidate Dave McCormick ousted three-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. in Pennsylvania, ensuring the GOP will have at least a 53-seat majority in the next Congress.
Mr. McCormick’s win comes after Republicans already flipped seats in Montana, Ohio and West Virginia. Two Senate races in Nevada and Arizona remained uncalled Thursday afternoon, but Democrats were leading in both.
Control of the House remained too close to call Thursday with dozens of outstanding races, but Republicans remain confident that they will retain their majority and have the trifecta of Washington power between both chambers of Congress and the White House.
While President-elect Donald Trump swept all seven swing states in his race against Vice President Kamala Harris, it was Pennsylvania that put him over the top.
Mr. McCormick certainly benefited from his coattails and was 0.5 percentage points, or nearly 32,000 votes, ahead of Mr. Casey when The Associated Press called the race with 99% of ballots counted.
If the final margin remains half a point or less, it would trigger an automatic recount process per state law.
Mr. Casey did not concede the race after The AP’s call. His campaign spokeswoman Maddy McDaniel said in a statement that there are tens of thousands of ballots left to count, including provisional, military, overseas and mail-in ballots, and the race should not be called until those votes are tallied.
“We will make sure every Pennsylvanian’s voice is heard,” she said.
Less certain are the results in Nevada, where Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen took the lead over Republican Sam Brown on Thursday after a large set of mail-in ballots from Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and most of the state’s population, were counted.
She was ahead by 0.9 points, or more than 13,000 votes, with 91% of ballots counted Thursday afternoon.
In Arizona, counting in the open Senate race for retiring independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s seat was even further behind. Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego was leading by 2 points over Republican Kari Lake with 69% of the votes counted on Thursday afternoon.
In the House, Republicans are ahead but Democrats are not completely out of the running.
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There are still 27 races that need to be called, and Republicans hold the edge with 210 seats, compared to Democrats’ 198. If Democrats want to bridge the gap, they’ll have to run the table and defend the rest of their vulnerable incumbents while winning out in California.
They scored some breathing room, with The Associated Press calling New York’s 4th district a win for Democrat Laura Gillen over Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito on Thursday, bringing Democrats’ total tally to three seats flipped in the state.
But if vulnerable Republican incumbents can hold onto their leads in five races in California, and flip outgoing Rep. Katie Porter’s seat, Democrats’ window of opportunity will likely be slammed shut.
Democrats could pick up a seat in Oregon, where Republican incumbent Rep. Lori Chavez-Deremer so far trails Democrat Janelle Bynum, but are behind in Alaska’s at-large congressional district, where Republican candidate Nick Begich leads Rep. Mary Peltola. And in Washington and Maine, Democratic incumbents are still ahead.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, said in a statement on Thursday that Democrats were still not throwing in the towel, and believed that they still had a shot in Arizona, California and Oregon.
“It has yet to be decided who will control the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress,” Mr. Jeffries said.
While Democrats are holding out hope, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the rest of the current House GOP leadership are urging their colleagues to reelect them to the same positions in the next Congress, another sign that Republicans believe they will again control the lower chamber.
Mr. Johnson’s pitch to House Republicans centered on his playbook that would prime a Republican-controlled government to hit the ground running during Mr. Trump’s first 100 days.
That plan includes following up likely executive action from Mr. Trump on the border with tough border security legislation akin to the House GOP’s marquee border bill, the Secure the Border Act; extending the Trump-era tax cuts; bolstering manufacturing in the U.S.; gutting the Biden administration’s climate policy to begin producing more energy domestically and taking a hatchet to a swathe of federal regulations.
“I’m ready to take the field with all of you, and I am humbly asking for your support to continue leading this conference as your Speaker,” Mr. Johnson wrote. “It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve with you thus far, and I look forward to playing the biggest offense of our lives. We have a country to save — and we will.”
Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican; House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana; House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York all sent letters on Wednesday and Thursday pitching to lawmakers why they should keep their jobs in House leadership.
House Republicans are slated to hold candidate forums and an internal election for the leadership roles on Wednesday.
Next week’s leadership election only requires a simple majority of support, but when Congress convenes for a new session in early January, Mr. Johnson will need near-unanimous support from the House GOP to win the gavel once more.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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