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Trump claims victory as Balderson holds on to slim lead in Ohio | TheHill

posted onAugust 8, 2018
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Article snippet: MORE and Republican state Sen. Troy Balderson declared victory in a hotly contested House special election in Ohio on Tuesday, as the GOP candidate held on to a razor-thin lead in a race that remained too close to call. Balderson was leading Franklin County Recorder Danny O'Connor on Tuesday by 50.2 percent to 49.3 percent, with 100 percent of the precincts reporting. But at least 3,367 provisional ballots were yet to be counted, making the outcome unknown, potentially for days. Under Ohio election law, any margin between the two candidates of less than half a percentage point would trigger an automatic recount. O'Connor refused to concede in a speech to supporters, calling the outcome a "tied ballgame." Even if Balderson prevails, a victory in the seat in the Columbus suburbs previously held by Rep. MORE (R), who retired to head a business association, may not last long. The winner will get to serve out the rest of Tiberi’s team until November, but Balderson, 56, will once again have to face 31-year-old O’Connor in the fall, this time for a full, two-year term. The district has been comfortably in Republican hands for nearly four decades and had been expected to remain so, especially after Trump won it by 11 points in 2016. Instead, the race became an unexpected nail biter in the last few weeks, raising concerns among Republicans that they would face a second major defeat in a swing state after Conor Lamb (D) beat state Sen. Rick Saccone (R) in a Pennsylvania s... Link to the full article to read more

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