The race to replace retiring Rep. Jack Quinn (R-N.Y.) is finally expected to come to an end this evening, sources have told Roll Call.

Erie County Comptroller Nancy Naples, the Republican nominee, has scheduled a news conference for later this evening in Buffalo and is expected to concede the race. That would make state Assemblyman Brian Higgins (D), who has clung to a 3,400-vote lead as the final paper ballots were being counted, the Member-elect.

Higgins, who got 51 percent of the vote to Naples’ 49 percent, has been in Washington, D.C., this week attending freshman orientation.

Higgins’ victory is one of the few bright spots for House Democrats coming out of Election Day. The Higgins-Naples contest was a hard-fought battle, but Higgins took advantage of the Democratic edge in voter registration in the 27th district, which Quinn has represented since 1992. Many of the union members who traditionally supported Quinn returned to the Democratic fold this year.

— Josh Kurtz