Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) declared victory late on Tuesday against Republican Ed Gillespie who posed a surprisingly serious challenge to the incumbent Democrat’s election chances.
With 99 percent reporting, Warner was leading Gillespie by just 13,000 votes out of the 2 million that were cast, according to The Washington Post.
“I want to congratulate Ed Gillespie. He ran a hard fought campaign,” Warner said.
Warner’s comments came even though the race hadn’t been called by multiple major outlets and Gillespie had declined to concede.
The leader in the race fluctuated throughout election night and at points it looked like Gillespie was going to bring about one of the biggest upsets of the night.
As of 10:41 PM Warner was leading Gillespie 48.7 percent to 48.6 percent. By total votes, that’s 1,036,234 votes for Warner and 1,033,799 votes for Gillespie. Earlier in the night Gillespie had been leading Warner.
Essentially Gillespie, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, performed surprisingly well in suburban areas. He’d also done notably well than expected in Loudoun county.
Warner had a large campaign advantage over Gillespie. In mid-October Warner had $8 million to spend while Gillespie had just $2 million.
In the lead up to the election it definitely seemed like Gillespie was in for a quick and decisive defeat. One of the last ads he aired before Tuesday night’s midterm was him promising to oppose a Redskins name change if elected, unlike, Gillespie said in the ad, Warner. Earlier in October Gillespie also appeared to be abandoning television ads completely.
It’s not over yet but it wouldn’t surprise me if Virginia elects a fucking lobbyist.
I told you this was a problem early on. Warner is up by 0.1% points at the moment with 99% in. I really don’t know what it takes for people to vote, but it is apparent VA voters thought this race was over before election day. Shameful.
Warner is back in the lead but only by 3,000 votes, and the tally counted is only 60,000 short of the 2010 turnout. Looks like Warner took the polls and Gillespie’s goofiness for granted.
I really don’t get any of this…Cory Gardner was called for CO. over Udall. Pryor’s gone… And Gillespie…that political operative and shill that used to be like Prince Rebus on cable all the time like a another lying sack of shit. Sick bunch of backwards leaning pols. What a sick bunch this Republican Senate is going to be made up of. Colorado just blows me away the most…They legalize pot and in the same year they elect the most regressive idiot they could possibly find to run for office. Wow. Oh, and Gov. Snyder in MI, he got re-elected…what a fucked up night.
“the tally counted is only 60,000 short of the 2010 turnout”
And you don’t see anything wrong with that statement? Read it again. A few times over. Slowly. Take your time thinking about it.