After 10 days of careful counting, Republican incumbent Rep. Heather Wilson has held her seat against Democratic Attorney General Patricia Madrid, according to Michael Gisick of The Albuquerque Tribune:
Unofficial but final vote tallies released Friday night by Bernalillo County gave Republican U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson an 879-vote victory over Madrid in what had become a strident, expensive and drawn-out campaign to represent the 1st Congressional District.
Election officials will spend the weekend checking their work, but County Clerk Mary Herrera said a change in the numbers now "doesn't seem possible."Still, Madrid did not concede the race and spokeswoman Heather Brewer said the campaign was determined to wait until the results are finalized Monday to decide whether to seek a recount.
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No recount in modern New Mexico history has resulted in a change of anywhere near 879 votes, and Herrera said she doubted a recount in this race would change 10.
"We've checked and double-checked them already," she said. "What do you think we've been doing for 10 days?"
If Madrid does ask for a recount, her campaign must bear the cost. Unlike some states, New Mexico law does not provide for automatic, taxpayer-funded recounts in extremely close races.
Read the entire article at the link above. Recounts rarely move large numbers of votes; in order to change totals by hundreds, millions of votes must generally have been cast, far more than in single congressional district.
Note that this result does not affect the projected composition of the House. Since Wilson was in the lead all the way, albeit by narrow margins, she was projected to hold the seat. The end of the counting merely confirms the assumption.
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Congressional Races, Election Results, New Mexico
Comments (3)
Heather Wilson really impre... (Below threshold)1. Posted by ron | November 19, 2006 10:53 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Heather Wilson really impressed me during this campaign. Her ads taking advantage of her opponent's poor debate performance were devastatingly effective. The fact that she was able to pull off a win in this race despite the bad GOP climate this year (and the fact that the district is Dem. leaning) is a tribute to her strength. I hope she runs for Senate if Domenici retires (or else challenges Bingaman when he's up for re-election).
1. Posted by ron | November 19, 2006 10:53 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on November 19, 2006 10:53
2. Posted by COgirl | November 19, 2006 12:47 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"Recounts rarely move large numbers of votes"
Unless of course, you're a Democrat in Washington state and you realize the votes from the dead had not been counted. . .
2. Posted by COgirl | November 19, 2006 12:47 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on November 19, 2006 12:47
3. Posted by Jim Addison | November 19, 2006 3:07 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
ron ~ I agree; Wilson's ads showing Madrid's inability to give a straightforward answer to simple questions were great - and, in such a close race, probably made the difference.
My understanding is that Pete Domenici has not been raising money at his typical pace lately, and speculation is he will retire - another cost of being in the minority is fewer of our senior Senators will decide to plug on.
CO Girl ~ Point well made, although I'm not sure the process in King County was technically so much a "recount" as repeated "discoveries" of "new" votes or perhaps vote-breeding. If memory serves, they ended up counting far more votes than voters who voted, and possibly more than were registered.
"What? We're STILL down a thousand votes? Hang on, I think there's another ballot box in my trunk . . . "
3. Posted by Jim Addison | November 19, 2006 3:07 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on November 19, 2006 15:07