Pennsylvania announces recount of Senate GOP primary race between Dr. Oz, Dave McCormick

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz greets supporters after the primary race resulted in an automatic re-count due to close results on May 17, 2022 in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

The state's elections chief announced Wednesday that the Republican Senate primary race between Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick will go to a recount.

Oz, a celebrity physician and first-time candidate endorsed by former President Donald Trump, led former hedge fund CEO McCormick in the final vote tally by less than half a percentage point, according to the office of the Secretary of State.

A mandatory recount was triggered by that narrow margin.

The recount is expected to cost more than $1 million in taxpayer funds. Pennsylvania counties must finish their recounts by June 7.

The announcement came a week after the election. The Pennsylvania Department of State attributed the lag to the fact that the state's laws don't permit pre-canvassing of ballots prior to Election Day. Chapman's office explained last Tuesday that counties could only count mail ballots on the morning of the election.

About 900,000 mail ballot applications were sent in for the primary.

John Fetterman, who was projected to win the state's Democratic Senate primary by a wide margin, will compete in the general election against the eventual winner of the Republican primary.

The Senate race in a swing state could be the most important fight of the year. Democrats are trying to keep control of the Senate, which is evenly split between 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats.

The Pennsylvania seat is currently held by a Republican and may be the best chance for Democrats to flip it.

As the results of the Republican primary race trickled in, the competition between Oz and McCormick continued.

The lawsuit was filed to make sure that counties don't reject mail-in ballots that arrived on time but didn't have dates on the envelopes. The Republican Party opposed the effort.

While votes were still being counted, Trump wrote on social media that Oz should declare victory and make it harder for them to cheat.

In the 2020 presidential election, Trump tried to do that but lost to Joe Biden. The former president made a false claim that mail-in ballots were rife with fraud.

This is breaking news. You can check back for updates.