Fimian to Concede to Connolly Tuesday
Updated: 10:37 p.m.
Republican Keith Fimian is expected to concede to Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) on Tuesday, the Washington Post reported Monday night.
Fimian trailed the freshman Congressman by 981 votes after all ballots had been tallied. The final margin was close enough that Fimian could have asked for the votes to be retallied, but that process likely wouldn’t have made a large dent in the margin.
Connolly declared victory Friday, but Fimian, who ran against Connolly for what was then an open House seat in 2008, did not immediately concede. Connolly’s victory means that he is the only Virginia Democrat targeted by national Republicans to survive the national GOP wave. Three other House Democrats in the state were defeated last week.
With Connolly’s victory, seven House contests from last week remain undecided. They are in California’s 11th and 20th districts, Kentucky’s 6th district, Illinois’ 8th district, New York’s 1st and 25th districts, and Texas’ 27th district. All of the races involve Democratic incumbents.
Republicans lead in five of the races: Democratic Reps. Jim Costa (Calif.), Melissa Bean (Ill.), Tim Bishop (N.Y.), Dan Maffei (N.Y.) and Solomon Ortiz (Texas) trail their opponents.
Meanwhile, Democratic Reps. Jerry McNerney (Calif.) and Ben Chandler (Ky.) have the lead in their too-close-to-call races. Several of the contests, such as the ones involving Ortiz, Bishop and McNerney, are expected to go to recounts.