Democrat clings to slim lead; GOP eyes recount
MOUNT LEBANON, PA. — Republicans eyed a recount and a lawsuit over perceived irregularities in a closely watched U.S. House race in Pennsylvania where Democrat Conor Lamb clung to a slender lead Wednesday in the longtime GOP stronghold friendly to President Donald Trump.
With the last batch of absentee ballots counted, Lamb, a 33-year-old former prosecutor and first-time candidate, saw his edge over Republican Rick Saccone shrink slightly, to 627 votes out of more than 224,000 cast, according to unofficial results.
The four counties in the Pittsburgh-area district reported they had about 375 uncounted provisional, military and overseas ballots. They have seven days to count the provisional ballots, and the deadline to receive military and overseas ballots is next Tuesday.
With the margin so close, supporters of either candidate can ask for a recount.
The GOP is considering requesting that election officials impound all ballots and machines in preparation for a recount request, according to a person familiar with the deliberations. This person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning.
Separately, Republicans mulled legal action on complaints that party lawyers were prevented from observing the counting of some absentee ballots, voting machines erroneously recorded votes from Lamb, and voters were confused by some information from the state elections website.
Officials in Allegheny County, the most populous and Democratic-leaning county in the district, pushed back on Republican claims Wednesday, saying the lawyers had lacked written authorization from the GOP and they had received no reports Tuesday of malfunctioning voting machines.
The Associated Press has not called the race, which is seen nationally as an indicator of Democratic enthusiasm and GOP vulnerability heading into the November elections that will determine whether Republicans retain their control of Congress.
Lamb has declared victory. Saccone, a 60-year-old Air Force veteran turned state lawmaker and college instructor, isn’t conceding. Both men stayed out of sight Wednesday.
Lamb, a Marine veteran, told supporters Tuesday night that voters had directed him to “do your job” in Washington. “Mission accepted,” he said.
From Saccone came words of defiance: “It’s not over yet. We’re going to fight all the way, all the way to the end. We’ll never give up.”
After the absentee vote count wrapped up Wednesday, Saccone gained 14 votes, trimming Lamb’s lead just a bit in a district that Trump won by about 20 percentage points in 2016.