Congressman Russ Carnahan waves to supporters with wife Debra election night UPI/Bill Greenblatt
Missouri Democrats seem to have survived a Republican tidal wave with a split among Congressional candidates.
St. Louis Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan seems to have squeaked by to a victory over Republican Ed Martin. Carnahan clings to a 4,400 vote lead in the 3rd Congressional District race in which more than 202,000 votes were cast. Carnahan tells the Missourinet he expects that lead to hold up after all results are in and says his biggest concern is that all votes are counted. Unofficial tallies from the Secretary of State’s office have Carnahan winning re-election with 48.9% of the vote; 99,011. Martin has received 94,593 or 46.7%.
Martin’s not ready to give up yet, though. He issued the following statement after the totals were in:
The Nov. 2 vote, “which came down to the wire is just too close to call,” says Ed Martin, who says he is calling on local election authorities “to ensure every vote is counted.”
In a statement issued by Martin’s staff, he says, “By the end of the day there were three glaring factors that stood out. The Secretary of State’s office, Robin Carnahan, reported irregularities early in the day. A newly appointed St. Louis City Board of Elections Democratic Chairwoman, Eileen McCann, hired a security company with close ties to Carnahan. Then just before midnight seven precincts in the city delivered an astounshing (and unbelievable) amount of votes. It will be interesting to see if the number of votes actually add up to the amount of registered votes in those precincts.
“It all begs a lot of questions and with problems in the Secretary of State’s office as well it only makes sense to make sure in fact every vote counts.”
“The people of this district want to make sure their voices were in fact heard and I pledged to them that I would fight to ensure it happens. We need to make sure the election process was in fact fair and that the numbers are correct. I saw several issues in my time at the St. Louis City Board of Elections and serious issues like this should and need to be addressed.”
The tidal wave of support across the country for Republicans swamped the re-election chances of Missouri’s senior Congressman, Ike Skelton of west-central Missouri. Skelton has lost the 4th Congressional District seat he has held since 1977. Republican Vicky Hartzler, a former state representative, received 113,500 votes or 50.4%. Skelton, a Democrat, receive 101,507 votes or 45.1%.
