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Mastriano wins, Senate GOP too close to call

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for US Senate, during a campaign stop in Warren County. Who is opponent will be is not yet clear though. Dr. Mehmet Oz, seen here in an event at the Woman’s Club of Warren, has a slight lead.

Election Day has come and gone.

And one race remains too close to call — the hotly-contested GOP nomination for US Senate.

In Warren County, Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz finished in third with 1,432 votes behind former hedge fund manager David McCormick (1,881 votes) and Kathy Barnette (1,472 votes).

A different picture emerges statewide.

Returns from the Pa. Department of State show Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon, with a lead of about 1,500 votes over McCormick.

Those results show Oz with 31.38 percent of the vote (402,629 votes) with McCormick at 31.26 percent, or 401,133 votes.

According to the Associated Press, Pennsylvania law requires recounts when the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5 percentage points or less.

Polling that showed a groundswell of support for Kathy Barnett came to fruition as over 315,000 Republicans can ballots for her but, as of Tuesday morning, she still trails by about seven percentage points.

While it isn’t clear who will emerge from the GOP primary, the Democrat in the race is quite clear — Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.

In spite of late medical challenges including a stroke and the placement of a pacemaker, Fetterman thumped the field, carrying the primary by over 380,000 votes, a 42 point margin over Conor Lamb. He received nearly 59 percent of Democratic primary votes statewide.

Here, Fetterman received over three out of every four votes cast, finishing with an 1,880 to 333 total over Lamb.

His message was clear: “Thank you for choosing me as your Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. I’m so deeply honored.”

The race for governor is set — Doug Mastriano vs. Josh Shapiro.

Mastriano, a far-right state senator from the southeast corner of the state, will shift into a fall race against the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who was unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.

National outlets had reported that more mainline elements of the GOP were trying to coalesce around another candidate — there were 10 on the ballot — out of concern that Mastriano would struggle to win a statewide general election.

That effort, however, clearly failed.

Mastriano secured 44 percent of the statewide vote, 24 points higher than his closest challenger, Lou Barletta. Bill McSwain, with 15 percent of the vote, came in a distant third.

Mastriano called Tuesday’s results a “resounding victory” and said “the people have spoken” during an interview livestreamed on his campaign Facebook page.

“So much is at stake,” he said. “(We are) trying to save our state and turn it around before its too late.”

Shapiro took a more militant tone in a tweet.

“I’m humbled and honored to be your Democratic nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania,” he said. “No matter which dangerous extremist we’re against this November, the stakes are too damn high for anything but a victory.

Mastriano’s preferred candidate for lieutenant governor, Teddy Daniels, came in third on Tuesday with just 12 percent of the vote behind Richard Saccone’s 15 percent and the 25.8 percent the winner, Carrie Delrosso, a one-term state Representative, received.

Shapiro will be joined on the ticket by Austin Davis, who earned 63 percent of the vote in the Democratic race for lieutenant governor.

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