“New Generation” Republican Carl DeMaio conceded to incumbent Democrat Congressman Scott Peters Sunday in one of the most contentious and highly targeted House races in America.
Initial results Wednesday showed DeMaio ahead. That flipped late Thursday with a results update, but both results left the two within 1,000 votes of each other until Friday evening, when a new update put Peters ahead by 4,491. As of Sunday results had Peters at 4,771 ahead.
“It’s clear that we are falling short in the vote counts and I wish Mr. Peters the best because I care so much about the interests of San Diego,” DeMaio told The Associated Press. “I’m incredibly proud of the inclusive and diverse campaign coalition that we forged and I remain committed to challenging the Republican Party to become more inclusive and more positive in its efforts to build a governing majority.”
DeMaio would have been the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress. He reportedly reiterated to the AP what he had said in comments just days before, that this campaign was “incredibly painful.”
“It has certainly not been an easy race for our campaign team that has had to endure so much that potentially if I were a Democrat, there would be people in the streets rioting over what we’ve had to endure,” DeMaio said Tuesday after comments on negative advertising, mailers and campaigning calls, Breitbart previously reported.
In the final days of the campaign, the National Organization for Marriage made good on claims that they would actively oppose DeMaio’s candidacy. They sent a number of emails in the last week before Election Day that encouraged either no vote in that race, or a strategic vote for liberal Democrat Peters.
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