Darcy Burner has been defeated by Congressman Dave Reichert (R-WA).
It's over.
Seattle Times
The Associated Press determined tonight that Reichert's lead for the 8th District seat was insurmountable.
Burner has not conceded and her spokesman, Sandeep Kaushik, said "I think there are still a lot of ballots out there."
Reichert has not declared victory, although his spokeswoman, Amanda Halligan, said "our confidence continues to grow."
Reichert held a sizable lead in Pierce County returns, and was outpolling Burner by a much smaller margin in King County. With almost 80 percent of the expected vote counted from Tuesday's election, Reichert's lead was nearing 8,000 votes this evening. Roughly 270,000 votes have been tallied.
Seattle PI
The Reichert-Burner race was the state's only competitive congressional race. Combined, both candidates raised more than $5.8 million.
The 8th District sprawls through the suburbs and rural communities of eastern King and Pierce counties.
The tide was running against Burner as officials in King and Pierce counties tallied more votes Friday.
Democrat Burner, 37, led in the initial, Election Day count of absentee ballots from King County, where 80 percent of the district's voters live.
Those ballots were mailed a week or more before Election Day, and the Burner campaign felt she was benefiting from the enthusiasm of those supporters of the candidate at the top of the Democratic ticket, Barack Obama, who sent in their ballots early.
But Reichert, 58, pulled ahead as both poll votes and additional absentee ballots were added to the total.
Reichert beat Burner by 3 percentage points, or a little more than 7,000 votes, in 2006; he edged her in King County by 304 votes and ran up most of his margin in Pierce.
Darcy Thanks The Netroots
Update 8:27 pm:
Darcy Burner Concedes 8th District Race
Bellevue, WA (Nov. 7) – Democratic candidate Darcy Burner issued the following statement in response to the decision by the Associated Press to call Washington State's 8th Congressional District race:
"It is likely at this point that Congressman Reichert has won re-election, and while we will certainly ensure that every valid vote is counted, we accept the decision of the voters.
"I would like to thank the thousands of people who put so much time and effort into the campaign, as well as the countless thousands more who went beyond voting to actively participate in our democratic process this year. The election of Barack Obama as our new President will ensure that the change to the direction of our country called for in this campaign is realized in the new year."
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Update 10:30 pm:
Why Darcy Burner Lost the Washington 8th Congressional District
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