Statewide Recount Confirms Oz Won GOP Nomination

The statewide recount in the U.S. Senate Republican primary was completed Tuesday, and the Pennsylvania Department of State released the results Wednesday.

Mehmet Oz received 419,999 votes, 951 more than the second-place finisher Dave McCormick, whose vote total was 419,048, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.

The statewide recount results are below:

• Mehmet C. Oz – 419,999 (31.1 percent)
• David H. McCormick – 419,048 (31.0 percent)
• Kathy J. Barnette – 331,864 (24.6 percent)
• Carla Herd Sands – 73,316 (5.4 percent)
• Jeffrey A. Bartos – 66,619 (4.9 percent)
• Sean Peter Gale – 20,251 (1.5 percent)
• George A. Bochetto – 14,480 (1.1 percent)

In Bucks County, Oz remained the winner after the recount.

After unofficial results revealed Oz and McCormick, the first- and second-place finishers, had vote totals within the half-percentage-point margin (0.5 percent) that automatically triggers a recount under state law. Chapman ordered the recount on May 26.

The Pennsylvania Department of State received the results of the recount from all 67 counties.

All qualified in-person ballots, mail-in and absentee ballots, provisional ballots, military and foreign ballots were counted in the recount. Undated or incorrectly dated ballots, which counties reported individually to the department, are not included in the totals.

State officials estimate the recount cost will exceed $1 million.

“I commend all county election workers and volunteers for their hard work and dedication over the last few weeks,” Chapman said. “They started by handling millions of ballots from the May 17 primary, then ensured a smooth recount of those ballots while millions of people eagerly awaited the results.”

In the November general election, Oz, a Montgomery County resident, will face Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat from the Pittsburgh suburbs.

Republican U.S. Senator Pat Toomey is stepping down at the conclusion of his term, leaving Pennsylvania with its first open Senate seat in a decade.

This was the seventh time the automatic recount clause of Act 97 of 2004 has been invoked, with four being completed.

In November 2009, the first recount was held in the Superior Court campaign, which featured nine candidates vying for four slots. There was a 3,330-vote gap between the fourth and sixth-place candidates in that election, and a 2,006-vote difference between the fourth and fifth-place finishers. The election’s preliminary results were confirmed by the recount.

When the gap between the two candidates in the Democratic primary for a seat on the Commonwealth Court was 2,116 votes, a second recount was ordered in May 2011. The election’s preliminary results were confirmed by the recount.

When the gap between the two candidates in the Democratic primary for a seat on the Commonwealth Court was 2,116 votes, a second recount was ordered in May 2011. The election’s preliminary results were confirmed by the recount.

The trailing contender in the 2010 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor relinquished his right to a recount. Three Superior Court candidates forfeited their right to a recount in 2017, despite the fact that their vote totals were all within the recount margin. In addition, the third-place finisher in the election for two open Superior Court seats forfeited her right to a recount in 2019.

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