Democrat Dannel Malloy was declared the next governor by Connecticut’s Secretary of State, but the Associated Press begs to differ. The AP has withdrawn its call for Malloy and now says Republican Tom Foley leads. Foley has so far refused to concede, and is even forming a transition team:
Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said that Malloy won by an unofficial margin of 3,100 votes — and that state law allows recounts in statewide races only when the margin is lower than 2,000 votes.
But the Associated Press said late Wednesday night that its vote count now shows Foley with a lead of 8,424 votes over Malloy, with all but 1.5 percent of the precincts counted. Based on that count, the AP said, it was withdrawing its call of Malloy as the winner.
Bysiewicz did not reveal the exact totals for the candidates in each town, saying they would not be available until today.
Adding to the controversy, Foley said Wednesday that he was forming a transition team to smooth the way for taking office — on the same day Malloy announced his own transition team.
Despite Foley’s actions, Malloy told reporters several times at the state Capitol that he is confident he will be sworn in as the next governor on Jan. 5.
“I’m standing by those numbers,” Malloy said, adding that he believes he won by more than 11,000 votes. “I’m confident that will stand up.”
Casting further doubt on the numbers, political insiders said Wednesday night that the vote counts for Malloy in Bridgeport and New Haven could have been too high by thousands of votes — meaning that Foley could have scored better in those Democratic-dominated cities than previously believed.
Malloy campaign manager Dan Kelly responded to the AP numbers late Wednesday: “We are aware what the AP is reporting, and we’re confident they’re wrong. Their numbers for New Haven are wrong, and they’re leaving out a significant number of votes in Bridgeport.”
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