Fla. gov hopeful is back in the race as 1st re-tally begins
New poll results in Florida have prompted the Democratic candidate for governor to take back his concession of defeat and forced a recount.
Unofficial vote totals tallied Saturday in Florida gave Republican Ron DeSantis (inset top) a 0.4 percent edge in his race for governor against Democrat Andrew Gillum (inset below), triggering an automatic machine recount under state law.
Gillum, who conceded Tuesday, took it back.
“I’m replacing my earlier concession with an unapologetic call to count every vote,” he declared Saturday.
Meanwhile, in the race for one of Florida’s Senate seats, Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s advantage over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson was even smaller — just 0.15 percent, or 12,562 votes out of nearly 8.2 million cast.
If the first recount — by machine — yields a margin of victory in either race that is less than 0.25 percent, a second recount will be triggered, by hand. That could leave the outcome unknown for weeks.
Scott urged Nelson to concede shortly after counties reported their provisional totals Saturday.
“Bill Nelson’s lawyer . . . has previously stated that margins smaller than ours are ‘insurmountable,’ ” Scott’s campaign said in a statement.
In the initial hours after polls closed, both DeSantis and Scott held much more comfortable leads than they do now. But in the days since, an influx of votes for their rivals from two heavily Democratic counties has led to protests, lawsuits and unfounded allegations of fraud.
“We have two county supervisors in Florida breaking the law and hurting the process right now,” Republican National Committee chair Ronna Romney McDaniel told Fox News on Saturday, not providing any evidence for the claim.
While key offices remain up for grabs in Florida, Tuesday’s voting saw Democrats gain seven governor seats nationwide. The party also took the House of Representatives from Republicans, though the GOP grew its control of the Senate.
Dozens of demonstrators converged on Broward County’s Supervisor of Elections headquarters in Lauderhill, Fla., Saturday, hoisting American flags and signs calling local officials corrupt. The Florida Department of State said it had received “no allegation of criminal activity” regarding the counting process.
Still, Scott on Saturday called on Florida sheriffs to “watch for any violations during the recount process.”
President Trump made the allegation more explicit.
“Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida!” he tweeted from Paris. “We are watching closely!”
In Georgia, counties have until Nov. 13 to certify their votes in a razor-thin governor’s race.
State law calls for a runoff election on Dec. 4 if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote the first time around. As of Saturday, Republican Brian Kemp had 50.3 percent and Democrat Stacey Abrams 48.7 percent.
Abrams, who has refused to concede, announced a $250,000 TV ad buy to prepare for the runoff she hopes will happen. Kemp has formed a transition team like any other governor-elect.
Arizonans are watching new votes trickle in as the battle to replace retiring GOP Sen. Jeff Flake drags on. Democrats and Republicans agreed Friday to give counties in the state five extra days to resolve problem ballots before tallying their final votes Wednesday.
Republican Martha McSally held a slim lead on election night, but absentee and provisional ballots gave Democrat Kyrsten Sinema a 19,000vote advantage Saturday.
In California, Democrat Harley Rouda declared victory Saturday over incumbent Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, though votes were still being counted in Orange County.
Ten congressional races — including four in California, upstate New York’s District 22, and southern New Jersey’s District 3 — remain undecided, according to RealClearPolitics.