Democratic Sen. Bob Casey will hold his Senate seat in Pennsylvania.
“Tonight’s results are great for Pennsylvanians and the country,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democrats’ senate campaign chair. “It’s clear Pennsylvania voters saw through the avalanche of negative attacks and reelected Senator Casey because he is exactly the type of strong advocate they need in the Senate.”
Casey had long been a favorite to win re-election. And his victory looked all but certain when Smith became the focal point of controversy in August after he claimed out-of-wedlock pregnancies were similar to pregnancies from rape.
But the race narrowed quickly, even after those comments, in part, observers say, because Democrats took the state for granted, and ran a lackluster campaign.
Republicans undertook a late effort — or perhaps a head fake — to pull an upset in the state, to capture its Senate seat and pocket its 20 electoral votes. That effort fell short in the end.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
Disqus Conversations
Click here to read the Disqus Commenting FAQ.