Toomey, McGinty, too close to call
More than 60 mayors, including four from Beaver County, have signed a letter endorsing Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Katie McGinty.
Toomey
It remains unclear if Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey will return to Washington, D.C., in January, or if his seat will be filled by his Democratic challenger Katie McGinty.
While not all the figures were readily available Tuesday, it appeared the two were neck-in-neck with 87 percent of the vote counted.
According to the state Department of State, McGinty had a slight edge with 2,005,207 votes, with Toomey garnering 1,979,351 votes.
Locally, the voters supported the incumbent over McGinty, a former state and federal environmental adviser.
In Fayette County, Toomey overtook McGinty by 18,864-13,317, while in Greene County, he surpassed her by 8,431-5,334.
In Washington County, he was again successful, leading the vote count by 50,340-33,682, according to unofficial results.
In Westmoreland County, Toomey bested McGinty by 89,166-52,614.
Neither candidate had offered comment by press time.
Toomey was first elected to office in 1999 as a state representative and held the office until 2005. He sought the senatorial seat in 2011.
McGinty, a Philadelphia-area native, was named by then-President Bill Clinton as his deputy assistant and then chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In 2000 she served as an adviser to Al Gore’s presidential campaign.
Three years later she was named head of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection by former Gov. Ed Rendell
The contest was considered one of a dozen “toss-up” senatorial races. The GOP currently holds the majority with 54 Republican members. Democrats hold 46 seats.
Of the 34 senatorial contests, there were 24 Republican and 10 Democratic seats up for grabs.
The Toomey/McGinty race, meanwhile, tightened in the final days of the campaign with the latest showing McGinty up by two points.
The two exchanged barbs in two televised debates, but ramped up their respective campaigns with broadcast and other media advertising criticizing one another’s stances on issues, character and ability to hold office.
It is estimated that more than $160 million was spent in the race.
On election day, McGinty continued criticizing Toomey for not revealing his presidential choice.
Just days in advance of the election, Toomey termed the GOP presidential nominee as “badly flawed,” during an interview with the Herald-Standard, and would not commit to voting for him.
“I have criticized (Trump) publicly for many of the things he has said, policies he’s taken and questioned his temperament and judgement,” said Toomey.
At the same time, he criticized McGinty for not holding Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton accountable for the email scandal that marred her campaign.
“She is the most badly flawed candidate in modern history,” said Toomey of Clinton. “She has a long history of being dishonest with the American people (and) a blatant history of corruption, for which new evidence is emerging on a daily basis.”
According to a Toomey spokesman, he did cast his vote for Trump when he visited the polls in his Allentown-area hometown late Tuesday.
A third candidate Edward T. Clifford III, a Libertarian, collected 1,929 votes in Fayette County; 862 in Greene County; 5,347 in Washington County and 8,383 in Westmoreland County.