The Associated Press declared Republican Dave McCormick the next U.S. senator from Pennsylvania last week, but U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) has joined election-denial efforts questioning the outcome.
A year ago, Shaheen condemned “MAGA” Republicans for questioning the outcome of elections.
“The MAGA crowd has turned election denial into a requirement for every candidate,” Shaheen said during the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s Eleanor Roosevelt dinner.
But last week, Shaheen sent an email fundraising off the Pennsylvania contest between McCormick and three-term Democrat Sen. Bob Casey.
“Here’s what we know: Pennsylvania’s Senate race is not over,” Shaheen claimed in the message. She went on to request Granite Staters send her a campaign donation that will be split between her and Casey.
Casey lost one of this year’s most closely-watched Senate races by less than one point, a fact he still refuses to concede. On Tuesday, Shaheen reiterated her support for Casey’s election denial.
“With 100,000 votes still to count, this race isn’t over yet,” Shaheen posted on Twitter/X.
Also on Tuesday, McCormick attended Senate Orientation, over the objections of Casey. Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) originally refused to invite McCormick to the orientation before giving in to pressure from Republicans.
“It’s time for Bob Casey to end this pitiful charade and concede the obvious truth, he lost this election to Dave McCormick fair and square. Every Democrat must call on Casey to stop undermining faith in our elections and concede,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Philip Letsou said.
Casey has called in notorious election attorney Marc Elias, best known for his work as Hillary Clinton’s attorney who “helped bankroll research that led to the now-infamous dossier on alleged ties between the Donald Trump campaign and Russian government operatives,” Politico reports. In New Hampshire, Elias represented the Massachusetts marketing firm that sent illegal mailers into the Second Congressional District during the 2022 GOP primary.
Sen.-Elect Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) at U.S. Senate Orientation on November 12, 2024.
An investigation by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella found the illegal mailers were sent on behalf of House Majority Forward, part of the House Majority PAC overseen by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The firm has agreed to resolve the investigation without a criminal proceeding in accordance with the terms and conditions of a three-year agreement that includes payment of a $40,000 fine.
And according to The Wall Street Journal, “Mr. Elias helped to steal a Senate seat in Minnesota for Al Franken in 2008 by finding a judge to count previously rejected ballots and overturn the lead of Republican Norm Coleman.”
In the past, Shaheen took a harder line on election denialism. After the 2020 election that Trump disputed, Shaheen said that “senators and members of Congress who have refused to acknowledge that we had a free and fair election in which Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by over 7 million votes, are bordering on sedition and treason in thinking that they are going to overturn a duly elected president.”
Former ambassador and U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), who ran against Shaheen in 2014, said the treatment of McCormick is just the latest example of hypocrisy by the New Hampshire Democrat and her party.
“For a party that has spent the last four years holding themselves up as the guardians of democracy, it’s pretty rich they are now subverting the will of Pennsylvania voters who chose a new senator,” Brown said. “Sen. Shaheen would be wise to heed the words of President Biden: ‘You can’t love your country only when you win,’ and stop aiding and abetting Democratic efforts to ignore the voices of voters in pursuit of political power.”
And state Rep. Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) responded to Shaheen’s tweet with one of his own:
“Jeanne Shaheen is engaging in gross election denialism. Dave McCormick is the Senator-Elect from Pennsylvania. Bob Casey is a sore loser who can’t admit defeat. Shaheen is supporting the loser in his attempt to subvert the will of the voters.”
