Bob Casey talks loss to Dave McCormick at a West Philly school in one of his first interviews since conceding the race

As Sen. Bob Casey finished up a tour of the newly built Lewis C. Cassidy Academics Plus elementary school, eighth grader Yasir Martin asked him if he was going to run for president.

“I’m just leaving one office now,” Casey, a Democrat, said. “So I’ve gotta go get a job.”

Casey, who conceded his race Thursday, two weeks after the Associated Press called it for Republican challenger Dave McCormick, was at the school for his first public stop in Philadelphia since the election officially wrapped and ended his 18-year tenure on Capitol Hill.

In one of his first interviews since conceding, he blamed his Senate loss on the infusion of super PAC money supporting McCormick and described President-elect Donald Trump’s strength in Pennsylvania as powerful.

“I think that combination was hard to overcome,” he said. “It’s the end of a chapter, but it’s for me, it was a blessing to be able to serve … you always want to win again, but that wasn’t meant to be.”

As for what the next chapter looks like, Casey said he genuinely didn’t know yet. His term will end at the close of December, and until then he’s going on a farewell tour to some of the places that benefited from federal funding, like the new Cassidy Elementary in Overbrook.

Casey waited to concede in the tight race with McCormick until the initial vote count ended last Thursday. He did not waive the start of an automatic recount triggered in the state. Republicans slammed him for that — arguing it prolonged an election he could not win, costing taxpayers money and tarnishing his legacy.

On Tuesday, he disagreed with that criticism.

“The morning of the election I think I was down by 80,000, and then over the next couple of days, it got below 30,000 and then below 20,000,” he said. “We got one full count done at that point and it wasn’t necessary to have a recount, or at least to continue the recount.”

Casey said he thinks the two weeks put a spotlight on how long it takes the state to complete a full count, a process he hopes can be accelerated in future tight races. “It should be the subject of some work and some reform because it shouldn’t take that long to come to a determination.”

For Casey, the trip through the brightly painted hallways bookended a public service career that started as a fifth-grade teacher and basketball coach in North Philadelphia.

“It’s interesting … to be able to be in a school at the end of a period of government service to be able to see what the possibilities are,” he said, noting that Gesu, the Catholic elementary school where he taught, didn’t even have its own gym.

As he walked through state-of-the-art music rooms and computer labs, Casey, always the dutiful Democratic messenger, credited the American Rescue Plan, which contributed the bulk of the funding for the $62 million new building.

“Sometimes just one vote can make all the difference,” Casey said of the bill, which passed 50-49.

The new school is exactly the type of project that Democrats had hoped would help them win this year as they campaigned around the country touting investments paid for by a deeply unpopular administration.

Before he left the school, Casey shot a few hoops in the gymnasium with Yasir. He posed for a photo in the school’s sunny new atrium below the words: “Success Starts Here.”