Gov. Josh Shapiro defends Sen. Bob Casey’s recount choice and points to Dave McCormick’s own failed recount

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday defended U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s decision to move forward with a recount, pointing to Republican Dave McCormick’s own unsuccessful recount in 2022 in a much closer election.

Shapiro has been under pressure from state and national Republicans to intervene in the recount, with GOP leaders calling on Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor to tell Casey to concede and drop the effort, which is estimated to cost more than $1 million to complete.

Shapiro does not have any official powers to stop a recount, as state law automatically triggers one if the margin is within 0.5% for a statewide race. Candidates can waive a recount if they believe it will not change the outcome of the results, an option Casey declined to exercise last week.

“State law calls for a recount if an election is within a certain margin,” Shapiro said Tuesday at an unrelated news conference in Philadelphia. “It’s up to the candidates to determine whether or not they want to waive that recount. Sen. Casey chose not to.”

Shapiro also noted that McCormick did not waive the recount “when he was a failed candidate for Senate two years ago,” losing the 2022 Senate GOP primary to Mehmet Oz by fewer than 1,000 votes.

Shapiro’s comments will likely rankle Republicans both in the state and nationally, who have already been critical of Shapiro for not speaking out fast enough against Democratic boards of elections voting to count undated ballots against legal precedent and for not speaking out against Casey’s recount effort.

“PA doesn’t need to waste millions of tax dollars on a recount for the US Senate that won’t change the outcome of Election Day,” Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland), the top Republican in the state Senate, wrote on X last week. “Protect our tax dollars and tell Senator Casey to stop. McCormick won.”

Casey trails McCormick by more than 17,000 votes, or 0.25%, as of Tuesday. Counties must begin recounting by Wednesday, but it’s unlikely the outcome will change.

“That will continue to play out, and the most important thing is that the will of the people will be respected, that all the votes are counted, and ultimately a winner is determined based on the will of the people,” Shapiro added.

The Associated Press called the race for McCormick more than a week ago and the Republican last week participated in orientation for new senators.

Republicans had not previously expressed concern with the state’s automatic recount provision for statewide races. Former Commonwealth Court Judge Drew Crompton, a Republican, let the recount process play out in 2021 over a margin similar to Casey’s, though it did not change the results and he eventually conceded to Judge Lori Dumas.

Shapiro, a potential contender for the presidency in 2028, has been relatively tight-lipped as the counting process in the state has come under national scrutiny.

He faced criticism from Republicans — ranging from U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) to Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley to state lawmakers — for his delayed response to Democratic-controlled elections boards in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties defying rulings from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and voting to count undated mail ballots last week.

“The idea that our governor, and former attorney general, wouldn’t make a statement as the law is being defied because it’s a member of their own party is very disturbing and very disconcerting to voters and to all of Pennsylvania, and it needs to stop because this election is over and there’s no mathematical way to achieve what Casey’s camp hopes to achieve,” U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa.) said in a call with reporters Monday.

Shortly afterward, Shapiro broke his silence on the issue after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a ruling directly ordering the counties not to count the deficient ballots. Shapiro criticized county officials for disregarding the court’s previous guidance, but he also blamed the state legislature for creating the situation by failing to update the state’s election law.

“Any insinuation that our laws can be ignored or do not matter is irresponsible and does damage to faith in our electoral process,” Shapiro said. “It is critical for counties and officials in both parties to respect it with both their rhetoric and their actions.”

Staff writer Julia Terruso contributed to this article.