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A GOP candidate has managed a victory in Idaho after election officials discovered and corrected a computer glitch.
According to reports, the race was initially scored as a Democratic victory for the state House, but it has now been designated a Republican win.
“Chief Deputy Secretary of State Chad Houck said the House seat representing Jerome, Blaine and Lincoln counties went to Republican Jack Nelsen, not Democrat Karma Metzler Fitzgerald, after more than 700 votes were added to the count on the state website late Thursday morning. The Associated Press has yet to call this race,” The Associated Press reported Thursday.
“Houck said Jerome County officials noticed vote totals on the secretary of state’s website didn’t match their count for the district — District 26. Houck said his office worked with county officials starting Wednesday and discovered a glitch that prevented early votes in the county from being tallied on the state’s website,” the report added.
Initially, the results had Nelsen losing by several hundred votes, but after authorities found and corrected the glitch, he eked out an 83-vote win.
“It was a job I was meant to do, and I’m crushed,” Fitzgerald said, adding that she was looking forward to spending taxpayer money on pre-school, daycare and after-school programs. She told the AP that she will likely request a recount but pushed back on suggestions that vote fraud occurred.
“I don’t have any idea,” she said. “My hurt feelings are skeptical, but, practically, I think everybody is just trying to do the best that they can.”
Nelsen, backed by former Republican Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, said he will wait for state election authorities to make the results official before claiming victory.
“If we learned anything, preliminary results are just that,” he said. “I like today’s preliminary results better than yesterday’s.”
The AP added:
The change also narrowed the margin of victory in the other two legislative races in the district, but didn’t change those outcomes, Houck said.
In those races, Democratic Rep. Ned Burns’ margin of victory over Republican Mike Pohanka narrowed to fewer than 40 votes out of nearly 16,000 votes cast.
In the Senate race, Democratic Ron Taylor retained a margin of more than 500 votes out of about 16,000 cast over Republican Rep. Laurie Lickley, who was trying to make the jump to the Senate.
Nationally, Republicans are on pace to capture a small House majority while the Senate remains up for grabs as of early Saturday, with the Nevada race between Republican Adam Laxalt and incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto too close to call, though Laxalt has a small lead. Meanwhile, two races — one in Alaska and another in Georgia — will be headed to runoffs next month, though the Alaska seat will remain in GOP hands regardless of who wins between incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Trump-backed GOP challenger Kelly Tshibaka, who had a small lead when the votes were tallied. Neither reached the required 50 percent threshold for victory.
That was also the case in Georgia, though that race could decide who controls the upper chamber. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock scored a narrow victory over Trump-backed GOP challenger Herschel Walker, but there, too, neither candidate managed to get 50 percent of the vote, leading to a Dec. 6 runoff.
Former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday advised her former boss to hold off an expected presidential announcement next week to allow the focus to remain on assuring Walker’s victory.
“Every ounce of Republican energy, every last ounce, needs to go into that Georgia race because it could potentially be what makes or breaks the Senate,” she said during her popular “Outnumbered” show on Fox News.
“Getting Herschel Walker over the finish line,” she continued.
“I know there’s a temptation to talk about 2024. No, no, no. 2022 is not over. No contender should announce for 2024 until we get through December 6th,” “Outnumbered: co-host Harris Faulkner said. “Every Republican energy needs to go to grinding the Biden agenda to a halt. Does that include Trump?”
“I think he needs to put it on pause, absolutely. He will make his own decision. I think Governor Desantis should be welcomed given what happened last night,” McEnany said, noting Ron DeSantis’ massive reelection win on Tuesday over Democratic challenger Charlie Crist.
“You have to look at the realities on the ground. We have to win the Senate. That’s it. Got to win the Senate,” she added.
Trump press secretary turned Fox host Kayleigh McEnany says Trump should put his campaign declaration on pause until after a Georgia Senate runoff, pointedly does not recommend he go campaign for Walker but says DeSantis should. pic.twitter.com/bklkjUxqa1
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) November 9, 2022
