(NewsNation) — After being criticized for not inviting Republican David McCormick to the Senate’s new member’s orientation this week, a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Schumer confirmed to NewsNation on Tuesday that he has been invited to attend.
“Ruben Gallego and David McCormick have been invited to attend orientation,” Schumer’s spokesperson said.
Too close to call
However, the race for McCormick has yet to be called as ballots are still being counted in Pennsylvania and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., has not yet conceded the race. Casey’s campaign pointed to a statement from the state’s top election official that at least 100,000 ballots remained to be counted, including provisional ballots and military and overseas ballots.
In a statement, Casey said the vote-counting process must be allowed to play out and every vote counted.
However, The Associated Press prematurely called the race last Thursday. Here’s why:
“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.”
As of Tuesday morning, McCormick was leading Casey by just 0.5% with 49% of votes at 3,370,959. Casey had 48.5% of votes at 3,335,896, according to NewsNation’s partners at Decision Desk HQ.
Who is David McCormick?
McCormick, 59, is the former CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund. He has the potential to recapture a GOP seat in Pennsylvania after Republicans lost one in 2022.
McCormick drew on contacts from across the worlds of government, politics and finance to secure backing for his campaign after he was CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, and served at the highest levels of former President George W. Bush’s administration.
It was McCormick’s second time running, this time with a clear primary and Trump’s endorsement. He lost narrowly to the Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022’s expensive seven-way primary.
His wealth — he’ll be one of the wealthiest senators when he joins the chamber — and connections got him flagged by Republicans as someone who could both raise campaign cash and pay his own way for a Senate campaign.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.