Dave McCormick concedes Pennsylvania Senate GOP primary to Trump-backed Mehmet Oz

By Eric Bradner, CNN

Dave McCormick announced at a campaign event Friday evening that he had conceded Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary to Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Oz is now set to face John Fetterman, the Democratic lieutenant governor who is recovering from a mid-May stroke, in the November election to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. It is expected to be one of the nation’s most expensive and closely watched contests in the battle for control of a Senate that is now split evenly between the parties.

McCormick’s Friday decision comes more than two weeks after their May 17 primary ended with Oz ahead by a margin of less than 1,000 votes out of more than 1.3 million cast in the Republican primary. The narrow margin triggered Pennsylvania’s automatic recount law, which takes effect when the margin between the top two finishers is less than 0.5 percentage points.

“We came so close,” McCormick told supporters, pointing to the “razor thin” margin.

“It’s now clear to me with the recount largely complete, that we have a nominee. And today I called Mehmet Oz to congratulate him on his victory. And I told him, what I always said to you, that I will do my part to try to unite Republicans and Pennsylvanians behind his candidacy,” McCormick said.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

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