A Democrat representative who has been refusing to concede since the night of the election has finally given up. Hours after officials certified Republican Claudia Tenney’s narrow victory in the last undecided congressional race in the nation, Democrat Rep. Anthony Brindisi finally publicly conceded, stating that it was “time to close the book on this election.”
Conceding the Election
It seems that Democrats will only accept the reality that our election system is susceptible to fraud if they are losing. “It has been the honor of a lifetime serving my hometown, the place I grew up and am raising my family. Unfortunately, this election and counting process was riddled with errors, inconsistencies and systematic violations of state and federal election laws,” Brindisi said in a prepared statement.
The Democrat representative also mentioned that he congratulated Tenney and stated that he would help make the transition as smooth as possible. Tenney had represented district 22 for one term before being defeated by Brindisi in 2018.
“Claudia looks forward to serving her constituents once again as their duly-elected representative in Congress,” Nick Stewart, a spokesperson for Tenney’s campaign, said in a prepared statement.
Judge’s Ruling
Rep. Brindisi’s concession came three days after Judge Scott DelConte ruled that Tenney had won the race in New York’s 22nd Congressional District by only 109 votes. In his February 5 ruling, the state judge directed New York to certify the results immediately. It took commissioners from the State Board of Elections less than two minutes to approve the results when they met on Monday, February 8.
Judge DelConte spent three months reviewing challenges to individual ballots, and attempting to fix several problems with vote tabulations. The vote count repeatedly changed as county election officials counted a flood of mail-in ballots, while the court had to focus on which of the challenged ballots could be counted.
The Associated Press reported: “DelConte rejected an argument by Brindisi’s lawyers that certification of the election results should be delayed until an appeals court had a chance to review the case. The judge said that even if the results end up changing after any litigation, New York could simply amend its certification. The judge said only the U.S. House can order a new election or recount at this point.”
“Sadly, we may never know how many legal voters were turned away at the polls or ballots not counted due to the ineptitude of the Boards of Election, especially in Oneida County,” said Brindisi, adding that he hopes there will be an investigation into “massive disenfranchisement of voters.”
Democrats hold a slim majority in Congress, with the current balance of power in the House of Representatives being 221-210, as Tenney has not yet been sworn in, and Republican Representative Ron Wright of Texas passed away on February 7.
