Democrat Scott Murphy pushed his lead to 178 votes after another day of absentee ballot counting in New York’s still-unresolved 20th district special election.

As of 4 p.m. Thursday, the New York State Board of Elections showed Murphy with 79,452 votes to 79,274 for Republican Jim Tedisco.

While the race to fill Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D) House seat appears to be weeks away from resolution, Murphy’s lead is now his largest since the counting of approximately 6,700 absentee ballots began last week.

Despite making gains in Saratoga County this week, as Republicans predicted he would, Tedisco continues to run behind Murphy in absentee ballots in seven of the remaining nine counties in the 20th district, and the former state Assembly Minority Leader is running out of areas to make up ground. Absentee ballots remain out in Columbia, Dutchess and Warren counties, but Murphy is leading in each of those counties.

The counting of military and overseas ballots began on Tuesday and totals remain out in just Columbia County.