Oz currently has a lead of about 900 votes over former hedge fund chief executive Dave McCormick in the Republican nomination race. CNN did not make a prediction in the race.
“I’m blessed to have won the supposed Republican nomination for the United States Senate,” Oz said in a video directly to the camera. “It was a difficult campaign, I traveled everywhere. You were quite honest, sharing with me thoughts, worries that you had, you don’t feel like you’ve been heard.”
Oz continues in the video to position himself more as a candidate in the general election, telling voters he will “reach every corner of this community”, work with “anyone with good ideas” and “connect together” to “solve all of our problems.”
Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Lee Chapman said Wednesday that the difference between McCormick and Oz is within the 0.5% threshold for automatic census, after all Pennsylvania counties announced their unofficial results to the state on Tuesday.
McCormick, as the second-largest voter, could have chosen to relinquish his recount, but he chose not to.
Counties can begin the countdown as early as Friday, but must begin no later than June 1. Counties must complete the census by noon on June 7 and present their results by noon on June 8. In the recount process, district election councils must count the ballots using a different device than the one used in the original tabulation, or the ballots may be counted by hand.
Oz’s decision to run for the Republican nomination follows the example of his top supporter, former President Donald Trump, who joined his social media platform Truth Social the day after the May 17 election, with the count still going on to encourage Oz to “declare victory”.
“This makes it much harder for them to cheat with the ballots they just found,” Trump said, echoing false claims about the 2020 presidential election without providing any evidence to support his claim.
The winner of the Republican primary will face Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Feterman in one of the national Senate contests in this year’s by-elections. Republicans say holding back Republican Sen. Pat Toomey is a key to their hopes of winning a Senate majority, while Democrats see transfers to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, both states carried by incumbent President Joe Biden in 2020. as the best way to protect yourself from losses elsewhere.
CNN’s Paul LeBlanc and Eric Bradner contributed to this report.
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