Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly on Thursday was leading Republican challenger Keith Fimian by 935 votes in Northern Virginia’s 11th Congressional District as ballot-counting entered its third day.
The vote count is nearly double the 480-vote lead Connolly had after polls closed Tuesday and there are only about 300 more ballots left to be counted, making it likely that Connolly will win the initial count, Fairfax County Board of Elections spokeswoman Judy Flaig said,
“It could make it closer,” Flaig said of the remaining ballots. “I don’t imagine it will get significantly different.”
Connolly spokesman George Burke said he expected Connolly to be declared the winner Friday.
But Fimian has yet to concede defeat, nor has he ruled out requesting a recount after election officials formally complete the ballot counting.
“It’s up to the candidates,” Flaig said of a possible recount. Fimian “may decide, ‘Oh, definitely, I want a recount. It’s close enough,’ or he may say, ‘You know what, we’re satisfied with the observers and the canvassers that I don’t feel like I’m going to pick up enough votes to bother with a recount.”
Unofficially, Connolly now has 49.2 percent of the vote to Fimian’s 48.8 percent
Burke said in an e-mail that two precincts in Prince William County have not been counted for clerical reasons and the county is still considering 88 provisional ballots cast by voters who encountered a problem at the polls. Some of those ballots could be rejected.
“We are confident of Connolly’s win,” Burke said.
Fimian’s campaign did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
