The 2010 House cycle is now officially over, with Republican nominee Randy Altschuler conceding to incumbent Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) in the final disputed House seat of the cycle.
In the most recent totals, Bishop leads by 263 votes, with under 1,000 absentee ballots remaining to be counted. Bishop led by a very narrow margin in the Election Night count. However, during the recanvassing process — when the counties essentially proofread their spreadsheets compared to the numbers from the voting machines — Altschuler briefly pulled ahead.
However, absentee ballots remained to be counted, and Bishop took the lead as that process went forward. The Altschuler campaign attempted for a time to challenge absentee ballots on the grounds of residency or handwriting on the envelopes. But in the end, Altschuler called Bishop this morning to concede.
This finalizes the Republican gains of the cycle at 63 House seats, for a total House makeup of 242 Republicans to 193 Democrats.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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