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Republican Claudia Tenney has officially won the race for New York’s 22nd Congressional District over Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-Utica).

The New York State Board of Elections certified Tenney’s win Monday, more than three months after Election Day. The board unanimously voted to declare Tenney, who received just 109 votes over Brindisi, the winner. It was the final house race to be declared in the country.

Brindisi, who had been pursuing a legal appeal of the election results and demanding a manual recount of its votes, conceded to Tenney on Monday. He continued to express concerns about how election officials handled absentee and affidavit ballots.

NY-22 quickly became one of the tightest congressional races in the country, with several communication and legal obstacles surrounding mail-in voting and ballot counting. Although Tenney held a 28,422-vote lead on Election Night, the counting of over 50,000 absentee ballots from the district gave Brindisi a slim lead weeks after Election Day. As more disputed ballots were processed, Tenney came out with a 12-vote lead.

In December, Judge Scott DelConte ensured the race would go undecided for even longer, ordering that all previously uncanvassed ballots — approximately 1700 — be canvassed and that the eight district boards of elections in NY-22 fix all errors in their counting processes. DelConte ruled last Friday that the board of elections certify Tenney as the winner.

Tenney can now be sworn in and fill the seat, which has been vacant since Brindisi left office on Jan. 3, as soon as possible. Tenney previously held the seat for a single term before Brindisi defeated her in the 2018 midterm election.

Published on February 8, 2021 at 7:36 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss