At 4:45 a.m. today, after 21-hours of non-stop ballot copying and counting, Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West for the District 18 congressional seat. The final tally — still considered unofficial — put Murphy ahead of West by 2,429 votes. Overall, Murphy captured 166,799 votes to West’s 164,370 in District 18, which spans portions of Martin, St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties. An automatic recount is triggered by a margin of 0.5 percent. Murphy’s lead gives him a .7 percent advantage. All ballots in Martin and St. Lucie counties have been counted.