Arcuri claiming Congressional victory; Hanna: "it's not over" yet
Story Created:
Nov 5, 2008 at 10:51 AM EST
Story Updated:
Nov 5, 2008 at 11:57 AM EST
UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - Congressman Michael Arcuri is now claiming victory in the 24th Congressional District, according to a statement released from his campaign, but absentee ballots remain to be counted, and his opponent, Richard Hanna says the race is not over yet.
WKTV has Arcuri at 118,635, while his challenger, Richard Hanna holds 112,244 votes. That is with all 523 districts reporting their results thus far.
9,000 absentee ballots remain to be counted.
"I am winning this campaign by nearly 6,400 votes," Arcuri said in the statement. "I expect that margin to hold and only grow as the roughly 9,000 absentee ballots counted."
However, Richard Hanna says he's far from given up just yet.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Democratic process, and I thank all the residents of the 24th Congressional District," Hanna said in a statement. "With about 10,000 absentee ballots and a number of paper ballots from malfunctioning voting machines, it's clear that this race is not over. The official count is underway, and the race is simply too close to call."
In Herkimer County, where Arcuri posted a shocking win over his Republican opponent two years ago, Hanna beat Arcuri by just under 3,600 votes. Hanna was also able to reverse his party’s fortunes in Broome County by beating the incumbent by 1,378 votes.
But, Arcuri got big boosts in Cayuga and Tompkins counties, holding a lead of just under 4,400 in Cayuga and just over 3,900 in Tompkins with a small number of districts yet to report in both.
Two big county surprises, beside the numbers from Oneida County, were from Chenango and Otsego Counties. In 2006, Republican Ray Meier beat Arcuri in Chenango County. It was one of only two counties that Meier won. In this election, Arcuri tallied 139 more votes than Hanna with all of the districts reporting.
In Otsego County, the home county of Richard Hanna, with all of the districts reporting, Arcuri had 844 more votes than Hanna. If Hanna can hold his lead in Oneida County, both candidates will have lost their home counties.
"CNN, MSNBC, and other media outlets have declared me the winner,' he said.
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