FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. -- The election race for Virginia US Senator, between Democrat Sen. Mark Warner and Republican challenger Ed Gillespie, became a shocking nail biter Tuesday night, as a refresh of poll results consistently brought new numbers and shift in power.
However, Gov. Terry McAullife took the stage after 11:30 p.m. to introduce Warner as the state's next senator.
At the time of his introduction, polls showed Warner ahead of Gillespie by 14,237 votes, with 99.5 precincts counted. Even the remaining precincts would not put Gillespie within the range for a recount, said Dr. Bob Holsworth. After 1 a.m., when precincts were 99.9% counted, Warner led by 12, 462 votes.
A canvass will be conducted, as a standard procedure, before election results are deemed official.
"It was a hard fought race," Warner said, "it went a little longer than we thought."
Warner, the incumbent since 2009, had a tougher ride than expected against Gillespie, in a state Democrats had thought was reliably theirs after Obama won it twice.
Gillespie spoke shortly after Warner, and did not concede victory.
"Unfortunately some campaigns last longer than others," he said. "We know that there will be a canvass that commences tomorrow,
"There are still some precincts remaining out as well, and obviously this is a very close race; .6 of one percent, I think, was the last count," Gillespie said. "So we're going to be patient here, and I believe that we need to be respectful of the voters, and I clearly want to be respectful of all the work that you have done."
"We will know better tomorrow," Gillespie said.
"I think it is so close because largely what has happened here, just as we saw in the Cantor race, is just that people are so frustrated with incumbents, so frustrated with the way politics is operating in this country today, that Mark Warner -- despite being in every public opinion poll one of the most popular political figures in the state for 14 years -- is over the next hour fighting for his political life in Virginia," said political analyst Dr. Holsworth.
Virginia does not have a mandatory recount law. However, if the margin between candidates is between one-half of a percentage point and one percentage point, a candidate can request a recount, but at his own expense, Holsworth said. In a situation where a candidate is within one-half of a percentage point, the recount is paid for by public funds.
The votes received by Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis reached 2.5%, or 53,547 votes. That's more than four times the lead Warner currently has over Gillespie.
The closest race in Virginia most recently was between Democrat Mark Herring and Republican Mark Obenshain, as they squared off for Attorney General. Going into the canvass of votes, Herring led by 165 (out of 2.2 million) votes.
