PITTSBURGH -- Though the Associated Press called the Pennsylvania Senate for Republican challenger Dave McCormick, his narrow lead could trigger the state's automatic recount law.

That is unless Democratic Sen. Bob Casey asks the state not to.

Pennsylvania law requires the Secretary of the Commonwealth to order all county Board of Elections to conduct a recount if one of the candidates "was defeated by one-half of one percent or less of the votes cast for the office."

McCormick leads Casey by over 34,000 votes, according to CNN -- a margin of 0.5 percentage points. The Decision Desk has not yet called the race for McCormick.

There are at least 100,000 votes yet to be counted, according to the Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt who's urged "patience."

Citing those votes but no clear path to victory, Casey has refused to concede the race with margins that could very well trigger a recount dragging the election out to Nov. 26 at the latest.

This can be avoided if the defeated candidate, Casey according to the AP, requests in writing that there not be a recount by noon on Nov. 13.

"I have dedicated my life to making sure Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard, whether on the floor of the Senate or in a free and fair election," Casey said on Instagram. "It has been made clear there are more than 100,000 votes still to be counted.

"Pennsylvania is where our democratic process was born. We must allow that process to play out and ensure that every vote that is eligible to be counted will be counted. That is what Pennsylvania deserves."

Podcast giant Joe Rogan urged President-elect Donald Trump to refrain from attacking his critics and political foes and focus on unity during his second term in the White House.

“He’s got to unite people. He’s got to not attack the left, not attack everybody. Let them all talk their s–t, but unite,” Rogan said of Trump, 78, on the latest episode of his wildly popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” with comedian and Libertarian Dave Smith released Thursday.

“Now it’s time to unite everybody.”

Rogan, who endorsed the soon-to-be 47th president the night before Election Day, said that Trump had the “right message” during his first White House term, but called him “the wrong messenger” — causing people to overlook his successful policies.

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Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to President-elect Donald Trump as “heartbreaking” and revealed that she had a “very emotional conversation” with the vice president during a recent podcast interview. 

Pelosi, 84, made the comments to New York Times podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro, co-host of “The Interview,” in a yet to be released episode recorded after Election Day. 

Garcia-Navarro teased some of what the California Democrat told her during an appearance on CNN Thursday. 

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President-elect Donald Trump named Susie Wiles his chief of staff on Thursday for when he takes the Oval Office in January after she helped lead Trump’s campaign to victory over Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day. 

Wiles’ appointment means that Trump’s administration can count the daughter of legendary NFL broadcast Pat Summerall among its ranks. 

Summerall was a household name for football fans for decades, having called 16 Super Bowls and being part of the broadcast duo alongside another football legend, John Madden.

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PHOENIX — GOP Rep. David Schweikert has held onto his Arizona seat after a tough challenge from Democratic former state Rep. Amish Shah.

Schweikert leads Shah 51.9% to 48.1% with 85% of the 1st Congressional District’s votes counted, Decision Desk HQ reports.

Schweikert has served in the House of Representatives since 2011, and Shah beat a crowded primary field this cycle to take on the sitting Republican.

Schweikert is a fiscal hawk and vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee. Shah, a physician, made health care a centerpiece of his campaign. 

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Congressional Progressive Caucus chairwoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal told left-wing activists on a Thursday night call that it remained possible for Democrats to flip the House despite pending vote counts suggesting otherwise.

"The House has yet to be called, but we still have a path to the majority. We still have a path to the majority," Jayapal (D-Wash.) insisted on a call arranged by the Working Families Party to mourn President-elect Trump's victory and discuss how progressives should respond.

"Almost all of our Democrats, including in the toughest districts, outperformed the top of the ticket, which is really pretty remarkable in this environment. If we do have the majority, it will be slim. We're going to need to quickly put together an agenda that shows people what we stand for, even in divided government."

Jayapal continued: "And if we lose the House, we're going to be in full-throated defensive mode. But in either case, we will still need to do the work to rebuild and call people in to our coalition. In either case, the movement is desperately needed — you will be absolutely essential to the work that we need to do in the streets, in the courts, in people's homes and in Congress as we rebuild from the bottom up."

In addition to Trump's victory, Republicans regained control of the Senate in Tuesday's election.

Republicans appear poised to narrowly hold control of the House. The Associated Press has declared the GOP candidate the winner in 210 districts while leading in 14 — with 218 needed for the majority.

The daughter of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz shared a photo of her dad lounging with his pet cat, “Honey,” days after being defeated in the 2024 presidential election. 

“The Earth keeps spinning and we live to fight another day,” Hope Walz wrote in her Instagram post. 

The governor – wearing a Minnesota hoodie, gray pants and white sneakers – is seen sitting in an armchair with “Honey” on his lap in the snap shared by Hope. 

Walz has two years left on his term as Minnesota’s governor. 

PITTSBURGH -- Nearly 48 hours after the polls closed on Election Day -- and with Democratic Sen. Bob Casey still refusing to concede a tight race called for his Republican challenger hours ago -- Dave McCormick has announced a 'victory' press conference and is preparing for the future as Senator-elect.

"Thank you, Pennsylvania! Looking forward to representing every citizen of our great Commonwealth," McCormick tweeted, after the Associated Press named him the winner with some 30,000 more votes than Casey at a 0.5% margin of victory, opening the possibility of a legally required recount.

The Gulf War veteran and former hedge fund CEO will hold a 'victory press conference' Friday in the Steel City on how he unseated Pennsylvania's longest-serving senator and will represent Pennsylvania in the US Senate.

Casey continues to insist the race isn't over, tweeting there are over 100,000 votes left to be counted.

The Associated Press called the race for McCormick at 4:09 p.m. ET explaining that with 91,000 votes left to be counted, "there were not enough in areas supporting Casey for him to make up the difference."

Senator John Fetterman slammed the Associated Press’ decision to call the Pennsylvania Senate race for Republican Dave McCormick, arguing the AP should wait for all votes to be counted.

The bombastic lawmaker contends the AP “shouldn’t make a call in this race until every Pennsylvanian has their vote counted.”

The wire service declared McCormick the winner late Thursday evening because with 99% of the votes tallied, it would be unlikely Casey can catch up with outstanding ballots.

After the call, Bob Casey’s campaign spokeswoman Maddy McDaniel released a statement indicating the three-term senator would not be conceding the race.

“This race is within half a point and cannot be called while the votes of thousands of Pennsylvanians are still being counted,” she said. “We will make sure every Pennsylvanian’s voice is heard.”

PITTSBURGH -- The Pennsylvania Senate race could be headed for a recount after the Associated Press called it a victory for Republican candidate Dave McCormick, but it's unlikely to move the race towards incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.

McCormick beat Casey by over 30,000 votes -- a 0.5 percentage point margin, which could trigger an automatic recount under Pennsylvania state law.

It likely won't change the outcome, explained Pittsburgh-based Democratic consultant Mike Butler.

“I expect it to be close enough to potentially be a recount, but these recounts don’t switch enough votes," the former Casey campaign told The Post, calculating McCormick can only avoid a recount if he improves his margins to 34,000 votes.

“There has to be some major glitch with a machine somewhere, something really fluky, for a big swath of votes to change," he elaborated.

Though Cambria County has been counting thousands of ballots by hand that couldn't be machine-scanned, Butler said that's not the kind of election mishap to change an outcome.

McCormick leads Casey by 24 points in the county, with 58% of the vote counted, according to CNN.

Still, the Casey campaign has refused to concede the race, instead pushing to count every vote.

Butler doesn't believe Casey should concede with such tight margins, but he doesn't think Casey will make a comeback. He calculated Casey would have to win at least 82% of the remaining vote to beat McCormick.

The AP said they called the race because with 99% of the vote counted statewide, they did not expect Casey to make up enough ground where votes are still being counted.

Still, if the final margin is within 0.5 points, the Pennsylvania secretary of state will call a recount, as state law requires.

Such a recount would have to begin by Nov. 14 and be completed by Nov. 26.

President-elect Donald Trump's transition team announced Thursday that his campaign co-chair Susie Wiles will become his White House Chief of Staff.

“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history, and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns,” Trump said in a statement.

"Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again. It is a well deserved honor to have Susie as the first-ever female Chief of Staff in United States history. I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”

Wiles co-chaired the Trump-Vance campaign alongside Chris LaCivita.