A shady Democratic attorney who once loudly attacked President-elect Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 presidential results is now at the heart of a desperate legal effort to snatch Pennsylvania’s Senate race away from its rightful winner — Republican Dave McCormick, campaign insiders say.
Marc Elias, a longtime Democratic election attorney and dirty trickster, is attempting to force the Pennsylvania Senate race into a recount, even though it was called for McCormick by the Associated Press on Thursday, with even the state’s most liberal news outlets echoing the call since.
Despite the race being called, incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey has refused to concede — blasting out a fundraising email Saturday urging supporters to pony up and make sure “every last vote in this PA Senate race is counted.”
The keystone state requires an automatic recount if the margin of victory is less than 0.5%. With 99% of the ballots counted, McCormick leads Casey by more than 41,000 votes — just above the threshold triggering such a count.
Even if a recount takes place it is unlikely that Casey will be able to find enough votes to change the outcome — but the legal fight could leave state taxpayers on the hook for a seven-figure bill.
The last statewide recount — triggered in 2022 on behalf of McCormick in his primary challenge against Dr. Mehmet Oz — cost the state roughly $1 million, KDKA News reported.
“Election Day has past [sic], but the fight for democracy continues. Here is some of what my firm has been up to: Thursday: Intervened against rightwing lawsuit in Pennsylvania,” Elias said in an X post Saturday.
“The Pennsylvania Senate race is not over,” Elias warned in an X post Thursday. He also pointed to a statement from the Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s office saying there were “at least 100,000 ballots remaining to be adjudicated.”
Team McCormick has filed two lawsuits to stop provisional ballots from being counted in Philadelphia, with his attorney’s citing “errors or inconsistencies in the adjudication process,” The Hill reported.
Elias has a long history of shilling for a rogue’s gallery of Democratic interests and causes.
In 2022, The Black Lives Matter movement retained him to clean up their shady finances, and during the 2016 presidential campaign he was responsible for commissioning the research that led to the infamous “Steele dossier” which sparked the years-long Russia collusion hoax against Donald Trump.
Elias has also led efforts in multiple states challenging voter ID laws, expensive projects lavishly funded by Democratic megadonor George Soros, the Washington Post reported.
Critics pointed to his hypocrisy, noting that following the 2020 election, Elias loudly condemned Trump’s legal efforts to recount votes in several swing states as “dangerous for democracy.”
“Elias is part of Kamala Harris’ campaign’s legal apparatus,” said Tom Fitton, president of the nonprofit advocacy group Judicial Watch. “One of the big lies of the left is that they support democracy, but what they support is using the law to obtain and retain power for themselves and that’s what Marc Elias is about.”
McCormick spokeswoman Elizabeth Gregory called Elias a “grifter” who was pursuing “frivolous legal challenges with zero merit.”
“McCormick’s lead is insurmountable, and that’s why the AP called the race. Senator-Elect McCormick is honored to have been elected by Pennsylvanians all over the commonwealth, and is moving forward to represent them,” she said.
Reps for Elias and the Casey campaign did not respond to request for comment.
