Dan Maffei conceded to Ann Marie Buerkle November 23rd after three weeks of ballot inspections and recounts. The vote difference stands at 561 votes, less than three-tenths of 1 percent.
In tight race, Rep. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt, was leading his Republican challenger Ann Marie Buerkle for the 25th Congressional District seat on Tuesday night.
As of 11:30 p.m., with 100 percent of the vote counted, the unofficial results showed Maffei with 72,323 or 54 percent of the vote, according to the Onondaga County Board of Elections. Buerkle had 62,419 or 47 percent of the vote.
The 25th Congressional District includes Onondaga and Wayne counties, as well as potions of Monroe and Cayuga counties.
Maffei’s overall lead can be attributed to the Democratic advantage in voter enrollment in Onondaga County. In Cayuga County, unofficial results had 67 percent of districts reported, giving Buerkle a lead of 750 votes over Maffei. In Monroe County, Buerkle was ahead by more than 3,500 votes, with all districts reporting. Results for Wayne county were unavailable. The Post-Standard reported on Syracuse.com that problems with voting machines had slowed the county but that Buerkle was in the lead. More than 10,000 absentee ballots, The Post-Standard reported, still have to be counted, potentially changing the race’s outcome.
On the national political landscape, control of the House of Representatives was at stake in Tuesday’s election. On Tuesday, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives were up for reelection, with Republicans needing to pick up 40 seats to gain a majority.
Maffei, 42, was running for his second term in office. The Democratic Party threw its heavyweights into his campaign, bringing former President Bill Clinton to stump for Maffei. Going into Tuesday’s election, Maffei had a strong advantage in campaign fundraising. As of Oct. 13th, he had raised more than $2.7 million, while Buerkle had raised $551,804.
In terms of voter enrollment, neither candidate had an obvious leg up. The district has 149,769 registered Democrats and 146,415 Republicans. Another 107,755 voters are not registered with any party, according to the state board of elections.
At the polls on Tuesday, some voters said they voted for Maffei because they think he’s a nice guy.
At the Community Center polling place in Skaneateles, Marilyn Pidgeon, a Democrat and systems analyst at Upstate Hospital, expressed excitement casting her vote for Maffei. “I think he’s a good hard-working guy that represents the district well,” said Pidgeon. “He could be a little more liberal on some issues, but he’s a good middle-of-the-road candidate.”
At the Holiday Inn in Liverpool, the site of Democrat’s party headquaters, people in jeans and ball caps mingled with people in suits and dresses. The Black Eyed Peas “I’ve Got a Feeling” played over the speakers while people munched on cheese platters and Take 5 bars scattered on the tables.
As the votes came in, Maffei encouraged the crowd to have hope for the future. “Now, there are going to be some difficult challenges. We have faced challenges before,” Maffei said, “And the important thing is that we face them together.”
(Heather Duggan is a graduate student in broadcast and digital journalism.)
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