GOP’s Dave McCormick, who made bid for Jewish voters, declared winner of Pennsylvania Senate race

ARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — Republican David McCormick has won Pennsylvania’s pivotal US Senate seat, as the former CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund beats three-term Democratic Senator Bob Casey in the election after accusing the incumbent of supporting policies that led to inflation, domestic turmoil and war.

The victory pads Republicans’ majority in the Senate, which they wrested from Democratic control this week, and clocked in as the nation’s second-most expensive race while playing out alongside the presidential contest in the nation’s premier battleground state.

McCormick, 59, recaptures a GOP seat in Pennsylvania after Republicans lost one in 2022, paying off a bet that party brass made when they urged McCormick to run and consolidated support behind him.

Republican strategists largely credit Donald Trump’s strong performance in Pennsylvania, beating Vice President Kamala Harris in the state by about 2 percent, as Democrats navigated headwinds like voter dissatisfaction over inflation under President Joe Biden.

That was enough to help pull McCormick to victory, they say.

Until Tuesday, Casey, 64, had won six statewide general elections going back to 1996, but he had never been on the same ballot as Trump.

With votes still being counted, McCormick led Casey by about 31,000 votes or half a percentage point.

McCormick tried to capitalize on turmoil in the Middle East and at the US southern border with Mexico.

He made a bid for Jewish voters by traveling to the Israel-Gaza border, speaking to Jewish audiences across the state and arguing that Casey and the Biden administration have not fought antisemitism or backed Israel strongly enough in the Israel-Hamas war.