Toomey defends Senate seat

Senator+Pat+Toomey+speaks+about+police+access+to+federal+equipment+during+a+small+campaign+talk+at+the+Law+Enforcement+Memorial+on+June+27.+

Photo by Gracey Evans

Senator Pat Toomey speaks about police access to federal equipment during a small campaign talk at the Law Enforcement Memorial on June 27.

Written By Robert Berger, Staff Writer

In the most expensive United States Senate race in history, incumbent Republican Pat Toomey won his re-election bid, defeating Democrat Katie McGinty for the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate position.

McGinty took the lead early on as she won Allegheny, Philadelphia, and Montgomery counties. As polls came to a close, Toomey came from behind, taking sixty out of sixty-seven counties in the state.

Toomey took 49 percent of votes, while McGinty took 47 percent. Libertarian candidate Edward Clifford tallied just under 4 percent of the votes across the commonwealth.

Allegheny County voted in favor of McGinty as she won 55.1 percent of votes, receiving more than 350,000. Toomey won 40.5 percent of the county with a total of nearly 260,000 votes.

Vice President Joe Biden recently spoke in support of McGinty at Chatham University while campaigning for Hillary Clinton. McGinty was also backed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who spoke in support of her this past September at Carnegie Mellon University.

“I think McGinty seems to be more in line with what the citizens of Pennsylvania want, especially when it comes to labor and the working class,” said sophomore secondary education major Alec Ebeling.

Toomey’s largest endorser was former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg recently spoke in support of Toomey’s stance on gun laws. Toomey pledged to enforce new gun laws that include improved background checks, and continue working to lower healthcare costs.

Point Park sophomore intelligence and national security major Jesse Iellmo voted for Toomey due to his flexibility on Second Amendment issues and his fiscally conservative track record.

“I really like that Toomey’s a businessman and wants to cut back on spending,” Iellmo said.

This was the most expensive U.S. Senate race in history, as candidates spent a combined total of  an estimated $140 million, according to the Federal Election Commission. McGinty’s largest contributions came from the Senate Majority PAC which donated nearly $19.9 million to his campaign.

On the other side, Toomey’s largest contributor was Sheldon Adelson, who donated $20 million to his campaign this past August. Prior to this election, the 2014 North Carolina Senate race between Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis held the record at a combined $114 million spent, according to the Federal Election Commission. .

The Republican party remains in control of the U.S. Senate with 51 seats out of 100. Republicans also maintain their majority of the House of Representatives with a total of 235 representatives out of 435.