A week after votes were cast, Republican Keith Fimian on Tuesday officially conceded the congressional race in Northern Virginia’s 11th District to Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly.
“For me, today is the end of this campaign,” Fimian said in a statement released by his campaign.
Fimian said he will not pursue a recount of the vote despite the narrow margin of Connolly’s victory, 981 votes out of 225,000 cast. A recount is unlikely to alter the final result or address “possible discrepancies in the election results,” including malfunctioning touch-screen voting machines, Fimian said.
“In our race, we have not seen any obvious errors in the results,” he said.
Fimian, however, held open the possibility of reversing his decision and calling for a recount if the state Board of Elections’ official results “change significantly” from the unofficial count that has shown Connolly leading since election night. Election officials will certify the vote Nov. 22.
“Many of my friends and supporters have asked me to contest the race to the legal limit,” Fimian said. “The decision not to seek a recount is not one that I have made lightly.”
Still, Fimian chided Connolly for claiming victory on election night despite his narrow margin in unofficial results. “Politicians and others who claim victory prematurely disregard the law governing Virginia’s elections and our rights under it,” Fimian said.
In winning a second term, Connolly marks the one bright spot for Democrats in Virginia. Three other incumbent Democratic congressmen were unseated by Republican challengers on Election Day, part of a nationwide Republican sweep in which the party picked up more than 60 House seats and six more Senate seats.
