Republican David McCormick cut Democratic Sen. Bob Casey's leads in Philadelphia and its populous suburbs and built leads in the more GOP-leaning parts of the state, foreclosing the incumbent's pathway to victory when The Associated Press called the race.
McCormick was leading by more than 30,000 votes when AP called the race at 4:09 p.m., and though there were an estimated 91,000 votes still outstanding, there were not enough in areas supporting Casey for him to make up the difference.
McCormick didn't win in the Democratic-leaning city of Philadelphia. But like Republicans across the map and President-elect Donald Trump, he sliced significantly the support that Democrats got. For instance: Casey was winning the city with about 78% of the vote, but that was down 8 percentage points from six years ago.
McCormick was winning outright in every region of the state — from the Poconos and one-time coal towns to the central areas around Penn State University to Western Pennsylvania. He lost Philadelphia and its suburbs, but cut down the margins. In Bucks County, just north of Philadelphia, Casey was winning by less than one point; he carried the populous area by 6 points in 2018.
Casey led in early returns, but McCormick overtook him with about 80% of the estimated votes counted just before midnight on Tuesday. Casey initially had a lead over McCormick when just about 40% of the estimated votes had been counted, propelled in part by mailed ballots that have historically favored Democrats.
McCormick was doing better in votes cast on Election Day.
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