Daytime talk show regular Mehmet Oz is headed toward a recount in his U.S. Senate race against hedge fund CEO David McCormick, who is narrowly behind Oz as votes continue to be counted a week after the election.
Pennsylvania has a law on the books that calls for an automatic recount if an election in that state results in a 0.5% or less difference between the leading candidates.
According to the Washington Times, Oz – who was endored by 45th President Donald Trump – led McCormick by 902 votes, or 0.07%. Pennsylvania’s acting Secretary of State has already announced the recount, and the Associated Press has stated that it will not call a winner for the razor thin race until the recount is complete.
Trump has publicly questioned the integrity of the election in Pennsylvania, a state that he contested after official results showed that he lost in November 2020. He reportedly urged Oz to declare victory, but Oz stopped short.
— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) May 21, 2022
Behind by a razor slim margin in a race that received over 1 million votes, McCormick has sued to force Pennsylvania election officials to counted mail-in votes that do not have the legally required written date on their envelope, and Politico notes that “the federal 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals issued a judgment that such ballots must be counted in a 2021 judgship election.”
Election officials say there are 860 such undated Republican mail-in and absentee ballots, and McCormick seemed to perform better than Oz with mail-in voters.
Oz, the Pennsylvania Republican Party, and the Republican National Committee have all intervened to stop McCormick’s request.
The Pennslyvania recount will mean voters will not learn the winner until next month. It will begin on June 1, and be completed by June 7.
Because of the razor thin margin, the only way to avoid a recount would be for McCormick to admit defeat in the race. In a public statement, he instead expressed support for the recount.
— Dave McCormick (@DaveMcCormickPA) May 25, 2022
Apparently, there are also around 10,000 ballots “still being adjudicated, including 4,000 absentees and 6,000 provisionals.” It is unclear how many are Republican, or when the vote tabulating process will be complete.
Prior to election day, the Republican vote was complicated by Kathy Barnette, who surged in the final days of the election and ultimately came in a distant third place after being harangued by a series of high profile pundits including Sean Hannity.
