Bob Casey concedes to Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania Senate Race

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey has conceded to Republican Dave McCormick in the race for his re-election to the U.S. Senate.

The senator sent out a statement in which he said that he called McCormick to congratulate him.

Casey said that he is proud of the work he and his team have done while in the Senate and during this recent election cycle.

He thanked his families, supporters and staff.

This announcement comes just days after the state of Pennsylvania began the process of recounting ballots due to the slim margin between the two candidates.

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court weighed in on the process by ordering counties to not count mail-in ballots that lack a correct handwritten date on the return envelope.

As of Thursday, McCormick led by about 16,000 votes out of almost 7 million ballots counted. That was well within the 0.5% margin threshold to trigger an automatic statewide recount under Pennsylvania law.

But no election official expected a recount to change more than a couple hundred votes or so, and Pennsylvania's highest court dealt him a blow when it refused entreaties to allow counties to count mail-in ballots that lacked a correct handwritten date on the return envelope.

Republicans will have a 53-47 majority next year in the U.S. Senate.

After Casey conceded, Senator-elect Dave McCormick thanked him in a statement and said he is "honored to represent every single citizen in Pennsylvania."

“I just called Dave McCormick to congratulate him on his election to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate.

As the first count of ballots is completed, Pennsylvanians can move forward with the knowledge that their voices were heard, whether their vote was the first to be counted or the last.