Finally: Allen West Concedes Florida Congressional Race

Posted on Nov 20, 2012

Flickr/Gage Skidmore

Allen West will definitely not be back in Congress at the start of the next term. The tea party favorite finally conceded his Florida congressional race to Democrat Patrick Murphy on Tuesday morning, two weeks after the election. His concession follows a recount of early ballots that widened Murphy’s lead over the Republican incumbent.

Politico:

After two weeks of battle with St. Lucie County elections officials — and a recount of early votes that wound up extending Murphy’s lead — West acknowledged that he couldn’t surmount his 1,904-vote, or 0.58 percent, deficit. That difference was just outside the 0.5 percent threshold to automatically trigger a recount of all votes.

So the brash conservative opted to bow out rather than wage a long and costly court battle he was unlikely to win.

...Democrats fell short in their bid to retake the House, but taking out West is one victory they’ll savor. The Iraq War veteran seemed to revel in taunting the opposition: He once called President Barack Obama “probably the dumbest person … in America right now” and suggested that 80 House Democrats were communists, among other put-downs

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West, who was first elected to Congress in 2010, says he has not ruled out running for office again. He told Fox News on Tuesday, “Right now God knows the plans for my life. The most important thing is to enjoy Thanksgiving; my youngest daughter has her 16th birthday on Saturday. That’s where my concern is now, to be with the family. We’ll make that decision as a family as far as where we’re going to move ahead.”

—Posted by Tracy Bloom.

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