HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race between three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick could help Republicans solidify their newfound majority in the House of Representatives in a competitive state contest that is one is the most expensive in the country.

McCormick led the vote count early Wednesday morning by about 100,000 votes, or 2%, but a significant number of votes remained uncounted.

At Casey's election night party at a hotel in his hometown of Scranton, Mayor Paige Cognetti, a Casey ally, expressed confidence that Casey would ultimately win once all the votes were counted. But just before midnight, she asked partygoers to go home in the hope that a result would become clear on Wednesday.

Casey, perhaps Pennsylvania's best-known politician and the son of a former two-term governor, is seeking a fourth term after facing his toughest re-election challenge yet. Casey, 64, is a stalwart of the state Democratic Party and has won six statewide elections since 1996, including as state comptroller and treasurer.

McCormick, 59, is running for the Senate for the second time after a narrow defeat in the 2022 Republican primary. Mehmet Oz had lost. He left his job as CEO of the world's largest hedge fund to run it after serving in the highest levels of former President George W. Bush's administration and sitting on Trump's defense advisory board.

The race ran on national issues, from abortion rights to inflation. But it also revolved around local beers, such as Casey's accusation that McCormick was a rich smuggler from Connecticut's posh “Gold Coast” – a caricature McCormick brought to life by mispronouncing the name of one of Pennsylvania's local beers – and attempted to purchase Pennsylvania's Senate seat.

Casey also attacked McCormick's hedge fund days, accusing him of getting rich at America's expense by investing in Chinese companies that made fentanyl and built up Beijing's military.

McCormick, for his part, emphasized his seventh-generation Pennsylvania roots, recounted his high school days wrestling in northern Pennsylvania towns – a sport that took him to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point – and his time leading the Online auction house FreeMarkets Inc., whose name was on a skyscraper in Pittsburgh during the tech boom.

Casey, a staunch ally of labor unions and President Joe Biden, has advocated for preserving the middle class, abortion rights, labor rights and voting rights and has called McCormick and former President Donald Trump a threat to all.

McCormick, in turn, accused Casey of endorsing the Biden administration's border, economic, energy and national security policies, which he blames for inflation, domestic unrest and war. He attacked Casey as a weak, unworldly career politician and a safe person who would join Vice President Kamala Harris if she became president.

The Democrats currently only have a narrow majority in the Senate.

Both Casey and McCormick were uncontested for their party's nominations in the primaries.

Also on the Senate ballot on November 5 are John Thomas of the Libertarian Party, Leila Hazou of the Green Party and Marty Selker of the Constitution Party.

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Follow Marc Levy at https://x.com/timelywriter.