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UPDATED: NY-20: Murphy Gets More Votes, Tedisco Sues to be Declared Winner
UPDATE AT TE BOTTOM
Results are not official yet and not all ballots have been counted. But the last hope of the Republican candidate, Tedisco, came and went last night with the counting of absentee ballots in his stronghold of Saratoga. To win, barring a major surprise, Tedisco would have had to pull ahead with Saratoga's ballots. He didn't. This morning he was STILL behind by 86 votes. During the day today Murphy's lead has grown to 167 votes. There are no more Tedisco strongholds to save him. It would take a serious fluke to change the result at this time. Results here (not yet certified so unofficial).
Scott Murphy looks to be the next Congressman from NY-20. Of course, following in the footsteps of Norm Coleman, I am sure Tedisco will keep filing legal challenges. Funny how Republicans squealed like stuck pigs when any Democrat filed legal challenges in tight elections. Now they are filing legal challenges like a gambling addict pulling a slot machine lever. And they have the right to, as long as the legal challenges make sense. I really do want the election to be fair and accurate. But as far as I can tell, there is little that Tedisco can do to reverse Murphy's lead.
As I recall RNC chair Steele was staking his leadership role on winning this one. Will he resign now? Honestly I hope not. I have found it amusing watching the Republican Party resent a moderate black Republican leading the RNC.
UPDATE: Murphy has pulled further ahead, now up 178 votes last I looked. So now, despite the fact more voters voted for Murphy, Tedisco is suing to have a judge declare HIM the winner. Yes...Republican disdain for the voters gets worse. Tedisco actually wants a judge to overturn the vote of the people and declare him the winner:
20th Congressional District candidate Republican Jim Tedisco submitted a petition to the Dutchess County Supreme Court Thursday asking the judge to declare him the winner of the extremely close special election race, despite the numbers currently being in favor of his opponent, Democrat Scott Murphy.
Coleman in Minnesota and Tedisco in New York are about the most pathetic losers I have seen. I guess some Republicans just can't accept rejection by the voters. Reminds me of a particularly crazy Republican in Orange County, CA named Bob Dornan (B-2 Bob) who kept showing up in Congress after he lost to Loretta Sanchez.
Re: NY-20: We Won
This is great news but do you think he'll pull a Norm Coleman? After all, it seems to be the Republican playbook of the week. At least we have Paterson who is a Dem and will seat Murphy but poor Al Franken, surrounded by Republicans.
Murphy won
Tedisco's suit, asking to be declared the winner, was filed on election day before the polls closed. This was done in order for the Tedisco team to go judge-shopping when their ballot challenges reached a court, and they got the judge they wanted. Unfortunately for them, this time the judge (James Brands) ruled against them on several counts.
Meanwhile, the current count, with all the ballots either opened or challenged, is Murphy +273. There are about 1,300 unopened paper ballots, the overwhelming majority of which have been challenged by the Tedisco camp -- meaning that when all is said and done Murphy's victory margin will probably be well over 300 votes.
Meanwhile, the stupidest move on the part of the Tedisco camp was challenging the absentee ballot cast by Senator Gillibrand. They may have had an actual reason to challenge that ballot, but by doing so they got the one thing they desperately needed to avoid -- mainstream media coverage.
Speaking of media, the nearly complete lack of coverage of the crooked schemes and corrupt actions of the Tedisco team and their Republican friends on county Boards of Elections is pathetic and disgusting. The Albany Times-Union, many of whose readers live in the district, steadfastly refuses to give this story anything more than the most basic coverage. They should be ashamed of themselves.
No wonder the newspapers are failing.
The most interesting nugget
in this story is that the judge for whom Tedisco went shopping doesn't seem willing to stay bought. Apparently his previous election rulings have been shamelessly pro-Republican. Now that he's sitting on a high-profile case, that history has been exhumed and is getting a thorough examination. If he does the same again for Tedisco he's very likely to get impeached.
So he's ruling fairly and expeditiously because he's scared for his job. Good.