by Debra Heine
Senator-elect Dave McCormick (R-Penn.) announced Monday that he plans to attend the freshman Senator orientation on Tuesday, despite the lack of an invitation from Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY).
“Looking forward to joining the Senate freshman class of 2025 for orientation this week!” McCormick wrote on X. “I’m honored to represent the people of Pennsylvania, and will fight hard to make sure their voices are heard in Washington. Let’s get to work!”
Several Republican senators had offered on Sunday to escort McCormick into the Capitol for the orientation.
Six days after the election, incumbent Senator Bob Casey still refuses to concede as Democrats hold out hope that the remaining batch of outstanding ballots will catapult him to victory.
Casey and McCormick are separated by just over 40,000 votes with 98 percent of the votes counted.
An estimated 122,000 ballots from places like Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs have yet to be tallied and Democrats believe those votes could tilt the scales in their favor.
The Associated Press called the race in McCormick’s favor on Thursday, when it appeared clear that Casey had no path to victory.
“The AP called this race a number of days ago because mathematically, there’s no path for Sen. Casey to win,” McCormick said in a Fox News interview Sunday. “Ultimately, Sen. Casey’s going to have to decide when he’s ready to acknowledge that,” he added.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Sunday appeared ready to acknowledge that McCormick is Pennsylvania’s newest senator.
“I’m willing to personally escort @DaveMcCormickPA into the Capitol for new-senator orientation. I’d like to see how they’d keep him out if he literally walked into ‘the room where it happens’,” Lee wrote from his personal X account.
Lee added that Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) “has indicated he’ll join the effort.”
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama chimed in: “I’ll be right there alongside you, Mike. Dave McCormick is the Senator-elect for Pennsylvania. And deserves to be at orientation alongside every other member of his freshman class.”
Schumer’s office reportedly said that Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) has also not yet been invited to the orientation. Gallego, 44, has been locked in a close race for a seat in the Senate against former television broadcaster Kari Lake.
The Arizona Democrat was declared the projected winner Monday afternoon by Decision Desk HQ, beating Lake by 2.2 percent with 94 percent of the vote in.
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Debra Heine reports for American Greatness.
Photo “Dave McCormick” by Dave McCormick.
