GOP Rep. Allen West of Florida has lost his seat to Democrat Patrick Murphy by 2,429 votes,
The Palm Beach Post reports.
After a 21-hour count, the hotly contested District 18 seat covering portions of three Florida counties on the south and central east coast of the state was decided, almost four days after voters went to the polls.
The final count remains unofficial, but according to The Post, Murphy topped West by 2,429 votes: Murphy took 166,799 votes to West’s 164,370.
Florida law calls for an automatic recount if margins are within 0.5 percent. Murphy’s lead gives him a .7 percent advantage.
“Since election night we’ve felt very comfortable in our margin of victory,” Eric Johnson, senior adviser to the Murphy campaign told the Post in the wee hours of Saturday. “We certainly want to get finality and the lawsuits like we saw today in the middle of the process have not been helpful,” Johnson said. “It’s time for everyone to put the election behind them.”
A Palm Beach County judge Friday denied West's bid to have a court intervene in his re-election battle saying the process had been tampered with.
Circuit Civil Judge David F. Crow called West's motion for an injunction "premature" and said it fell "woefully short" of establishing any legal basis for the court to wade into the race for the 18th Congressional District.
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