A federal court case that is flying under the radar could change the Republican Senate primary between Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick.
A 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling and stated that election officials should count hundreds of mailing ballots that were received without a date on them.
Politico reported:
It was not immediately clear how sweeping the reach of the circuit court’s ruling will be because a formal opinion from the panel is still forthcoming. But it could have a serious impact on the Senate race. Oz and McCormick were separated by about 1,100 votes as of Friday afternoon, and the ruling could introduce into the pool an as-yet-unknown number of similarly-situated ballots that would not have initially been counted.
A spokesperson for the Department of State told POLITICO that it was not immediately clear how many ballots that were otherwise received in a timely fashion by county election officials were rejected because of a missing date. Ellen Lyon, a spokesperson for the agency, said that it would be “surveying counties to get that figure and issuing guidance to support them,” and anticipated having that information early next week.
The day after the primary, Dr. Oz held a slim margin over McCormick.
Fox News reported that the margin is currently in the % 0.5 range to trigger an automatic recount and that the Pennsylvania Secretary of State, by law, must order a recount by 5 p.m. May 26th if the margin stays at % 0.5.
Dr. Oz is the well-known host of the “Dr. Oz Show” and the Trump-backed candidate in this race.
McCormick is a former hedge fund executive, veteran, and Treasury Department official for former President George W. Bush.
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Trump spoke out on social media and said, “Dr. Oz should declare victory. It makes it much harder for them to cheat with the ballots they ‘just happen to find.'”
Trump gave Dr. Oz his “Complete and Total endorsement” back in April.
“He has lived with us through the screen and has always been popular, respected and smart. he even said that I was in extraordinary health, which made me like him even more,” Trump said.
He also mentioned that Dr. Oz was “the one most able to win the General Election” against the Democrats.
A recent Fox News poll showed that McCormick had an advantage and was polling ahead of Dr. Oz by 9 points–24% as opposed to Dr. Oz’s 15%.
Whoever ends up winning the primary, Dr. Oz or McCormick will then face off against Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman.
There has been no update in the primary race as of yet.
