Wednesday 18 May 2022 05:58 AM Trump-shunned David McCormick neck-and-neck with Dr. Oz in GOP Senate primary ... trends now
The Pennsylania Republican Senate primary stretched into the early hours of Wednesday with no clear winner in sight, with candidates Dave McCormick and Dr. Mehmet Oz neck-and-neck.
Early returns showed McCormick - the conservative candidate shunned by Trump - taking an early lead over Oz, who the ex-president endosed in April.
Commentator Kathy Barnette, who got a bump in the polls as election day neared, remained in third place all Tuesday night.
As the night wore on, Oz got within striking distance of McCormick, overtaking his count after midnight.
'We're not going to have resolution tonight. But we can see the path ahead, we can see victory ahead, and it's all because of you,' McCormick told a crowd in Pittsburgh around 11:30 p.m.
Oz came onstage in Newtown, Pennsylvania about 15 minutes later and made the same promise.
'We are not going to have a result tonight. When all the votes are tallied I am confident we will win,' Oz said. 'We are making a ferocious charge, but when it's this close, what do you expect? Everything about this campaign has been tight.'
In Pennsylvania, if results are within .5 per cent or less, a recount is automatically triggered.
Oz went on to thank '45' - President Trump - saying that he 'continued to lean into this race in Pennsylvania' after making his endorsement of Oz last month.
'He knows all the subtleties of it. He was willing to participate in tele-townhalls, which he advised that I do, it was a brilliant idea. He participated in a massive rally out in Westmoreland County,' Oz continued. 'God bless you sir for putting so much effort into this race, I will make you proud.'
Oz also publicly thanked Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity, saying he was like a 'brother' to him and said they engaged in 'late night conversations' as Oz ran for office the first time.
Earlier in the night, the Trump-backed choice for GOP governor - state Sen. Doug Mastriano - won his race.
Mastriano made a name for himself by pushing the so-called 'big lie,' and had Trump election lawyer Jenna Ellis as a guest at his election night party.
Republican Senate hopefuls Dave McCormick (left) and Dr. Mehmet Oz (right) told their crowds of supporters before midnight Tuesday that the results of their race wouldn't come out tonight. They both boasted they planned to be victorious
Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick - who was snubbed by former President Donald Trump - has been leading in the returns all night in a close race between him, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Kathy Barnette. He greets supporters at an event in Pittsburgh Tuesday night
The Trump-backed state Sen. Doug Mastriano pulled into the lead of the Republican primary for Pennsylvania governor Tuesday night. Some Republicans fear that Mastriano will be easily beat by Democrat Josh Shapiro over his peddlng of the 'big lie'
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Doug Mastriano had Trump's former election lawyer Jenna Ellis speak at his election night event Tuesday in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Ellis was also a vocal advocate of the 'big lie'
Dr. Mehmet Oz (right) kisses his wife Lisa (left) as he tells supporters that the GOP Senate primary race won't be called Tuesday night
Republican candidate for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat Dave McCormick (left) leaves his polling place in Pittsburgh with his wife Dina Powell (right)
Supporters arrive at a primary election night gathering for Republican Senate hopeful Kathy Barnette in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania
Dr. Mehmet Oz gives a thumbs up to a passing car outside a polling place Tuesday in Rockledge, Pennsylvania
State Sen. Doug Mastriano (right) alongside his wife Rebecca (left) celebrate his win in the GOP Pennsylvania gubernatorial primary at an event in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Mastriano's race was called just before 10 p.m.
'They like to call people who stand on the Constitution far right and extreme. I repudiate that, that is crap. That is absolutely not true,' Mastriano told a crowd of supporters at his Chambersburg, Pennsylvania victory event.
He said the Democrats were 'extreme' due to their COVID policies, calling it a 'dark time' and blasting Admiral Rachel Levine, the Assistant Secretary for Health who formerly was Pennsylvania's Secretary of Health.
'And their darling, of course, would be promoted to admiral - woman of the year,' he said of Levine, apparently mocking her for being transgender.
Mastriano pledged to do away with COVID mandates, jab-for-job requirements and critical race theory on day one.
'This is infectious here because we all love freedom,' Mastriano said.
The Cook Political Report moved the Pennsylvania governor's race from toss-up to lean Democrat after Mastriano's win, as his positions on 2020 election interference and abortion may not play well in the purple state.
Kathy Barnette, a Republican hopeful for U.S. Senate, was in third place through Tuesday night, following Dave McCormick and Dr. Mehmet Oz
Democratic Senate hopeful Lt. Gov. John Fetterman cast an absentee ballot from Lancaster General Hospital after suffering from a stroke Friday. On Tuesday doctors performed pacemaker surgery on the 52-year-old former Braddock mayor
Gisele Fetterman (center right) watches election returns come in Tuesday night at an event in Imperial, Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh. She headlined the election night fete as her husband Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman remained in the hospital
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman's supporters sign a 'get well soon' card for the Democrat, who won his party's Pennsylvania Senate nomination Tuesday night
Rep. Conor Lamb (center left), holding son Matthew and wife Hayley (left), arrive at a polling location Tuesday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Democrats' night wrapped up much more quickly than Pennsylvania's Republicans.
Pennsylvania's Attorney General Josh Shapiro, running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for governor, was called the winner of his race as soon as polls closed.
Shapiro, recovering from COVID-19, tweeted that he was 'humbled and honored' to be Democrats' nominee.
'No matter what dangerous extremist we're against this November, the stakes are too damn high for anything but a victory,' Shapiro said.
On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman won the Senate primary over rivals Rep. Conor Lamb and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta.
On Friday the 52-year-old Fetterman suffered a stroke, and had a pacemaker implanted on Tuesday, hours after he voted in the election by absentee ballot from Lancaster General Hospital.
Fetterman, still hospitalized, made a quick video appearance at his election night event once the race was called for him at 8:54 p.m.
The event was headlined by his wife Gisele, who assured the crowd that 'John is going to be back on his feet in no time.'
'He is the bionic man now,' she told CNN. 'He's feeling great. The surgery was perfect.'
President Joe Biden applauded Fetterman's win in a statement Tuesday night, using it as an opportunity to call out the Republican candidates as 'too dangerous, too craven, and too extreme.'
REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY
The race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey looked very different early on, with Trump wading in early and endorsing Sean Parnell, who tried to unseat Lamb in a Congressional race in 2020.
Trump endorsed Parnell in early September.
Less than three months later, Parnell was out, after a judge in the Republican's child custody case found abuse claims made by his estranged wife to be credible.
In the months following, a number of Trump White House figures played adviser - official and unofficial - to McCormick, the former CEO of Bridgewater Associates who had been considered for several administration positions during the ex-president's tenure
Politico reported in January that Trump White House alumni Hope Hicks and Stephen Miller were advising McCormick's campaign, while other Trump insiders including Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Tony Sayegh and Larry Kudlow
