The nationally watched U.S. Senate race between Democratic Senator Bob Casey Jr. and Republican challenger Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania was still too close Wednesday night, with no sign of a concession speech from either campaign.

Although Casey held a lead in the polls for much of the campaign, the race became increasingly tight in the final days.

And as ballots were counted Wednesday, McCormick held a slight lead, in line with a red wave across the state that helped former President Donald Trump reclaim the White House.

The Casey campaign showed no sign of willingness to concede as the final votes were counted.

“There are more votes to be counted in areas like Philadelphia, and it is important that every legal ballot is counted,” Casey spokesperson Maddy McDaniel said Wednesday morning. “If that happens, we are confident the senator will be re-elected.”

Shortly after 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Allegheny Republican Committee Chairman Sam DeMarco told McCormick supporters gathered in Pittsburgh that he was “very encouraged” by the early results.

“Tonight we’re going to make history,” he said. But a day later, as counties tallied their final ballots, the race still had not been called.

A McCormick victory would unseat a sitting president with extraordinary name recognition. Casey’s father was governor of Pennsylvania, and Casey, a mild-mannered centrist, has held public office in Pennsylvania since 1996. McCormick, a West Point graduate and Gulf War veteran, is a former hedge fund executive who has profited from tens of millions of dollars. in the spending of a super PAC funded by financial industry billionaires.

While the race will not determine control of the Senate, given that Republicans have gained seats in West Virginia and Ohio, it could play an important role in determining the strength of the Republican Party’s projected majority. If Casey and a handful of other Democratic incumbents survive, Republicans will have little room for defections in the Senate over the next two years.

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Both campaigns expected a tight race, even though Casey started with a significant lead in the polls because Pennsylvania voters knew him better. Thanks in no small part to a months-long barrage of TV advertising, McCormick’s profile grew, and the match was widely seen as a toss-up in recent weeks.

More than $300 million was spent during the race by the campaigns, their parties and outside groups. Its largest outside backer was Keystone Renewal, a pro-McCormick super PAC backed mainly by financial industry billionaires, some of whom knew the Republican from his days at Connecticut-based Bridgewater.

McCormick, who narrowly lost the 2022 Republican Senate primary to Mehmet Oz, found a message this time that resonated with voters concerned about the economy — and eager to support a candidate aligned with Trump.

McCormick “has a great background in business,” said Mary Dodgi, 80, a retired teacher who lives in Ross Township in Pittsburgh’s North Hills and who until a decade ago was a registered Democrat. Now, she said, McCormick and Trump represented the party “for the people.”

Casey loyalists preferred the moderate message of the Scranton native, who served as state auditor general and state treasurer before making national headlines in 2006 by unseating conservative U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.

Michael Marko, 66, who was volunteering outside the polls Tuesday at the Cione Rec Center in Port Richmond, said he believed Casey was the “most important candidate on the ballot.”

“Casey will keep Trump at bay,” Marko said.

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Casey’s politics have shifted to the left over the years on issues such as abortion and gay marriage. But he has maintained a populist economic agenda, supporting organized labor, opposing efforts to restrict the natural gas industry and fighting free trade deals, including those proposed by Democratic presidents.

This year, Casey’s message about inflation — he calls it “greed” and blames it on profitable corporations, rather than government spending — was embraced by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and other Democrats.

Casey is a run-of-the-mill Democratic senator who preaches the virtues of bipartisan civility, while McCormick is a clean-cut army man turned businessman. And while neither shied away from attacking the other during the campaign, there was little drama in the race and voters were left with a relatively simple choice between a career politician and a plutocratic newcomer.

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Throughout the race, McCormick faced questions about his ties to the Commonwealth. This year it was reported that he repeatedly flew back to Connecticut on private jets, where one of his daughters from a previous marriage lives.

These questions have turned off some lifelong Republican voters, including Joyce Sanyour, 70, who said her decisions this election cycle were guided by her views on abortion access and her concerns about political incivility. “And I’m not sure where Dave McCormick lives,” she said.

But on Tuesday night, Casey’s supporters at his election watch party in Scranton seemed deflated.

“As the night went on, we just got sadder and sadder,” said Eunice Gray, 52, before getting into her car for the 40-minute drive to Stroudsburg. “It feels like 2016 again, as opposed to 2020.”

Her husband, Curtis Gray, said he worried about the future of the country if Trump and McCormick prevail.

“This country is divided enough as it is,” he said.

Staff writers Aubrey Whelan and Beatrice Foreman contributed to this article.