Perez wins 3rd District House seat, Kent refuses to concede

The race for Washington’s third Congressional District has been referred to as by the Related Press, with Democratic candidate Marie Gluesenkamp Perez declared the winner, however her opponent, Joe Kent, hasn’t accepted defeat.

The Related Press calls races once they analyze that the loser is mathematically unable to come back again to win the race.

Pérez staves off Kent to win third Congressional District seat

“If our race callers can’t definitively say a candidate has gained, we don’t have interaction in hypothesis,” based on the AP web site, “Solely when AP is absolutely assured a race has been gained – outlined most easily because the second a trailing candidate now not has a path to victory – will we make a name.”

A Democrat seems to have flipped southwest Washington’s District 3 seat, which has been Republican-represented since 2011.

“I’m humbled, honored, and grateful. I pledge to work day-after-day to stay as much as the accountability positioned on me,” Perez said on social media following the announcement. “I’ll defend our rights. I’ll shield our democracy. And I’ll ship the assistance working and middle-class households want. Thanks, thanks, thanks.”

Kent is presently behind Perez by 3,268 votes as of Tuesday morning, with about 8,000 ballots left to be counted. Many of the remaining votes seem like in Clark County, the place Perez leads Kent by about 11 proportion factors.

Joe Kent has to date refused to concede the hotly contested race, trying to find any last-minute votes and declaring in an electronic mail to supporters, “left-wing media try to persuade you my election is over, let me reassure you it’s not.”

“I gained’t concede this race as a result of we’re nonetheless very a lot on this struggle, however I additionally gained’t concede this race until each single authorized vote is counted,” Kent mentioned to FOX Information.

Whereas ready for the remainder of the ballots to be counted, Kent can be seeking to resolve the challenged ballots, that are ballots not being counted doubtless attributable to points surrounding correct verifications of the voter’s validity in casting their vote by means of their signature. Kent is providing to assist voters who assume their vote has been wrongfully challenged resolve the problems with their county’s elections auditor.

“That signifies that you submitted your poll, however for no matter motive, often a signature match situation, it’s been rejected,” Kent mentioned to supporters. “For those who need assistance with legitimate curing, electronic mail me at Joe@JoeKentforCongress.com. We’ll get a curing staff to your entrance door or we’ll get you a journey right down to your county auditor’s workplace.”

Sam Campbell contributed to this report