On a night when Democrats won control of the House and when Virginia's race may determine who controls the Senate, Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb stepped before supporters and declared, "the votes are in, and we won." Republican incumbent George Allen concluded his remarks for the evening saying more votes remained to be counted in the Commonwealth before a winner is declared. Webb predicted that his party's "margin of victory will be even greater" after absentee votes and votes from remaining precincts are counted.
As of press time, the State Board of Elections showed Webb leading by 7,720 votes with over 99 percent of precincts reporting.
After four close Senate races were decided for Democratic candidates, control of the Senate hinges upon the outcomes in Virginia and Montana. As of press time, Democrat Jon Tester held a 5,500 vote lead over Republican incumbent Conrad Burns in Montana with 74 percent of precincts reporting.
Last night, supporters of the Webb and Allen campaigns gathered in Northern Virginia and Richmond, respectively, to await the outcome of the "too close to call" election.
Early results showed Allen holding a lead of thousands of votes over Webb. Both parties said they believed absentee ballots could swing the election outcome.
Allen addressed his supporters shortly after midnight, emphasizing the importance of those votes which remained to be counted.
"The point of the matter is we're still counting votes," Allen said. "It seems like every time there's an e-mail there's more votes coming in, there's absentee precincts, there are some counties that say they'll get back to counting votes later on today."
Allen did not reference an official recount of the votes. If the election is decided by less then one percent, the candidate who has apparently lost may request a recount. If the margin between the candidates is above half a percent, the candidate requesting a recount must pay for it, instead of having it funded by the state.
Tucker Martin, assistant to Attorney General Bob McDonnell, said that much of what will happen in the next few days is at the discretion of the candidates' campaigns.
"The State Board of Elections is our client, and we'll be advising them along the way, just an attorney-client relationship," Martin said. "A lot of what happens next, that's [up to] the Webb and Allen campaign; that's what they want to request and how they want to move forward."
When addressing supporters, Allen recalled last year's election where McDonnell was elected Virginia attorney general by a margin of just a few hundred votes.
Before leaving the stage, Allen urged his supporters to ensure that votes are counted carefully today.
"I know you are all going to be like a bunch of eagles and hawks watching how each one of these votes are counted," he said.
According to Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, the support Allen did receive was in large part due to the inclusion of the Marshall-Newman Amendment on the ballot.
"I think clearly Virginians came out in strong numbers to support the gay marriage amendment," he said. "Those are conservative voters."
Webb addressed his crowd of supporters around 1 a.m., at which time he told them the news they had been waiting to hear as he declared victory.
Webb said he believed his victory to be a "great moment" for his supporters.
"I will look forward to representing all of you to the best of my ability," Webb said.
Martin said that he was not surprised by the close vote totals.
"I think it's been a tight election the whole way," he said.
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