Dem House Candidate Leads GOP Candidate By About 12 Votes Total, Says Elections Analyst

 

During an election year brimming with close house races, the margin of victory between Republican Claudia Tenney and Democrat Anthony Brindisi in the New York District 22 congressional election may take the cake for the closest U.S. House race of the year.

According to Cook Political Report Editor David Wasserman, more than three weeks after the election, the Democratic candidate has taken the lead in the race by about a dozen votes. Put differently: The margin deciding the next member of Congress, in an election with more than 300,000 ballots cast, has come down to only 12-13 votes total.

Wasserman, a renowned elections analyst, cited Democratic and Republican operatives in making his comment on Wednesday, and also predicted that the congressional race will likely be “fiercely litigated for months, given the infinitesimal margins involved.”

The 2020 general election has yielded some pretty thin margins for congressional races across the country. Last week, Congressman Mike Garcia (R-CA) declared victory over Democratic challenger Christy Smith while leading by a 400-vote margin — a declaration Smith derided as premature and “dangerous to our democratic process.”

While Garcia has maintained his lead — which as of Wednesday is now 13 votes smaller than last week — major media outlets and elections trackers have not yet called the race. Earlier this year, Garcia won a special election to replace former Congresswoman Katie Hill (D-CA), becoming the first Republican to flip a California congressional seat from blue to red in over two decades.

Even earlier this month, two rival House candidates from Iowa both attended freshman orientation for new members of congress in Washington, D.C., despite Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks declaring victory over Democrat Rita Hart.

According to Iowa Public Radio, Miller-Meeks declared victory at a time when she was leading by about 40 votes. She now leads by 38 votes, and the DecisionDeskHQ elections tracker shows both candidates splitting the vote by exactly 50.00% each.