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.
16,000 votes are way too many to pick up in a recount. I participated in the Obenshain recount last year. He was down by only 300 votes and wound up losing ground in the recount. Besides, Gillespie is positioning himself for a run at governor and doesn't want the probable negative publicity associated with a drawn out battle on this to adversely affect that run.
Heard it spelled out a couple days ago... if the recount results in a Gillespie win, then the state pays the cost. Otherwise it's borne by the requesting campaign.
He knows the numbers and the probability of whether a recount would change things.
If it’s a longshot, he saves the state a chunk of change by not demanding a recount.
Classy move and a good start to a gubernatorial bid, this time with the funding he didn’t get this time.
He knows the numbers and the probability of whether a recount would change things.
If it’s a longshot, he saves the state a chunk of change by not demanding a recount.
Classy move and a good start to a gubernatorial bid, this time with the funding he didn’t get this time.
Fox news was saying the pro-vote polls were so skewed in favor of Warner that many contributors quit donating to Gillespie and they quit buying TV time. That very well may have made the difference.
There is a lot of suspicious stiff going on with polling, both in predicting elections and in representing “what the American people think.”
Yup. And they'll blame the libertarians, not themselves.
Has anybody mentioned our brain damaged, RINO* emerituis JOHN Warner endorsing Warner? And remeber when he cost Ollie North a seat? The GOP won't say a word about him, will they? Nope, they'll blame it on those crackpots.
(* I hate that term. Actually, John Warner & his crowd are the DEFINITIVE Republicans. And never forget it.)
Yep, I think we all know how this would have played out if the results would have been the opposite. Dems would never concede so easily.
This was a longshot, I don’t think I would have invested much money into it, either.
But a star is born. Ed is a good guy and he will run for something again, and win.
What, the GOPe is just laying down and conceding? Gee, what a shock... /SARC
Good catch! Remember when W and Rove & Morris were riding high in the days of "compassionate conservatism"? This little twerp declared to the Manchester Union Leader that, "The days of small-government conservatism are over!"
I hate his guts.
But, mostly, GOPe just finds ways to screw us (GOPtp).
I was hoping Gillespie would demand the recount. I wanted to see that whole Fairfax County vote manufacturing machine exposed for the criminal enterprise it appears to be.
We need to know the names of all those involved in turning in those last ballots from Fairfax at the end.
D Winner M. Warner (i) 49.2% 1,071,283
R E. Gillespie 48.4% 1,054,556
L R. Sarvis 2.5% 53,396
If he's really not sure he can win his decision makes sense.
It is the Democrat way. Recount and continue to "find" votes until you are ahead, and then stop.
Don't blame Ron Paul. He endorsed Cuccinelli vs. Sarvis last year. Sarvis is a phony financed by Democrat$. He's not a real libertarian. Don't blame the Pauls for this.
Gillespie spent 2013 duping conservatives in Iowa in word games on amnesty.
I would have supported Gillespie because Brat won.
If Cantor won I think this race would not be close.
Gillespie can still run for something else and has the donors. He didn’t piss off the base like Cantor, Bolling and his donors.
I wonder how Jennifer Rubin is feeling. She was the only one who predicted this and everyone laughed at her.
May any ash hole voting DemoRat get the rotten fruits of their votes.
Agreed. I blame the Republican Party of Virginia, and its officials, for this loss.
The GOP in Virginia has been run by a bunch of vile trolls for several years, now.
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