Posted on 11/07/2014 11:09:40 AM PST by smoothsailing
November 7, 2014
Republican Ed Gillespie conceded the Virginia Senate race Friday, declining to contest Democratic Sen. Mark Warner’s tight lead.
By Friday, Warner led by just 17,000 votes with 99 percent of precincts reporting. But with canvassing ongoing since Wednesday, media outlets had yet to call the race.
“If I believed there were any conceivable way we could find a viable path to win through a recount, I would fight,” Gillespie told supporters.
But, he said, “It would be wrong to put my fellow Virginians through a recount when, in my head and in my heart, I know that a change of outcome is not possible.”
Gillespie said that after “careful analysis” of the results, “I’ve concluded that the numbers just aren’t there.” That matched what Warner attorney Marc Elias told reporters on Wednesday, certain the incumbent would emerge victorious.
At a briefing with reporters Thursday, operatives from the National Republican Senatorial Committee expressed frustration that they had not had the resources to help push Gillespie over the edge.
“I’d always hoped that a super PAC would go in there and help out a little bit, and we just never got there,” NRSC Executive Director Rob Collins told reporters.
Warner won his second term in far different fashion than his first. After defeating former Gov. Jim Gilmore by more than 30 points, the popular former governor sneaked by in 2014 in a surprisingly close contest.
While he lost this one, Gillespie is now well-positioned to run for governor in 2017.
He conceded to their photocopier.
they needed to pour the money into Arkansas ... because of all the DEM operatives hiding out in the Ozarks doing border raids.
Giving up and conceding doesn’t help, either.
If it were the Dem trailing slightly, they’d move mountains to ensure the win.
That’s the only way to fight them... by NOT quitting.
Unfortunate. I’ll bet there was a lot of Democrat vote-cheating up in northern Virgina, where the DC commuters hang out. Would have been nice to get rid of Warner.
Maybe this will get him the governorship, and that’s why he’s playing Mr. Nice Guy.
we need to convince warner to be a Dino.
Really? How much did they try? The GOPe seems to have given up on Virginia. How much did they help Cuccinelli?
the losertarian Robert Sarvis got 2.45% of the vote or about 50,000 votes.
This was low priority. Money went to the higher-priority important races - helping Cochran and McConnell.
Gillespie didn’t lose to Warner, he lost to a “calculation error”. When the wind is right, I can smell the corruption blowing in From Fairfax and Arlington to the east.
Not at all. Of course after the Governor’s indictment Cuccinelli had little if any chance.
One good thing is that Warner is rendered irrelevant in the Senate.
Is anyone surprised by this? Gillespie was an establishment hack Republican anyway. Conceding is great news, he would’ve been one of those “Gang of 8” Senators anyway.
Of all people, you would have thought Gillespie, with his background and contacts, would have been one of the top receipients of the GOP largess.
I wonder how many of the 17,000 votes were thanks to the voting machines and vote fraud?
Nail, meet hammer. You are exactly right; if Warner was behind by any margin, he would be in front of every TV camera demanding that “every vote be counted,” while Dim operatives discovered extra ballots in courthouse closets and car trunks across Virginia.
Gillespie believes taking the high road will give him an inside track to the governor’s mansion in 2017—and he may be right. But until they learn to play hardball and fight the Dims tooth-and-nail, they will never win close elections in Virginia—or anywhere.
I never read a single article even mentioning VA as a state in play until last Friday.
And in that one it was basically kind of a “by the way Virginia may be closer to 4 points (dem lead) than the 15 we expected.”
To me that just reflected the national mood which confirmed in my mind we would get most of the genuine toss-ups.
I didn’t realize VA was a genuine toss-up until election night.
If we had known a month ago I’m pretty sure we could have won.
But then again the GOPe was sending money to Roberts to bail out his horrible campaign.
The GOPe really can find ways to screw us- even unintentionally.
However, where does one find the funds? After coffers are empty from a heavy election, Gillespie would have trouble raising more money.
That's reality.
So true.
I don’t expect the BigItch in Alaska to ever concede.
Heck he will probably show up in senate chambers for work in January and fight over the chair with Sullivan.
Right, but this is a little more than "slight." The difference is 17,000+ votes. A recanvassing and recount might've (in the best scenario) shaved 1,500 or 2,000 or so, but this is simply too wide a gap.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.