More than a week after Republican Rep. Heather Wilson claimed a razor-thin election victory, her Democratic challenger conceded Tuesday, saying a recount would cost too much and there was no guarantee it would reverse the result.
Wilson won by 875 votes - the final tally showed the five-term congresswoman with 105,921 votes to 105,046 votes for Democrat Patricia Madrid, the state attorney general.
The difference was less than one-half of 1 percent, which in some states would have triggered an automatic recount, but New Mexico does not have an automatic recount law.
Costly recount
Madrid could have requested a recount, but she would have had to pay for it, and she estimated a districtwide recount could reach $300,000.
State Democratic Party Chairman John Wertheim has accused Republicans of "systematic vote suppression" in the New Mexico, a reference to accusations that Republicans called Democratic voters and gave them erroneous polling information. Although Madrid lost, her party succeeded in taking control of the U.S. House.
A handful of other House races remained unresolved
- North Carolina, 8th District: Rep. Robin Hayes, a Republican, led Democrat Larry Kissell by 339 votes after results were certified Friday night. Kissell asked for a recount, which began Monday.
- Ohio, 2nd District: Rep. Jean Schmidt, a Republican, was ahead of Democrat Victoria Wulsin by about 3,100 votes Tuesday as workers continued counting 10,000 provisional and absentee ballots.
- Ohio, 15th District: Rep. Deborah Pryce, a member of the House Republican leadership, led Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy by 3,717 votes Tuesday amid a count of provisional ballots.
- In Florida, state officials certified Republican Vern Buchanan the winner over Democrat Christine Jennings by 369 votes, or less than 0.02 percent. Jennings contested the election Monday, arguing touch-screen voting machines had malfunctioned and asking a judge to order a new election.
- Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., the subject of an FBI bribery investigation, will face fellow Democrat Karen Carter in a Dec. 9 runoff, and Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, will face Democratic former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez in a yet-unscheduled runoff.
