Last night, the Associated Press reported Democrat Jim Webb appeared to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen in Tuesday's midterm elections, giving Democrats both chambers of Congress. Webb has begun to assemble a Senate transition committee while Allen has yet to announce whether he will concede or request a recount.
According to Allen senior advisor Dan Allen, the senator "is waiting for the recanvassing to take place and wrap up, which could be mid to late afternoon tomorrow," before considering a request for a recount.
Webb was assembling a Senate transition committee as early as yesterday afternoon, according to Webb campaign spokesperson Jessica Smith.
Webb "assembled a transition team for the Senate, obviously feeling confident as of last night that he had won the election," Smith said, adding that an Allen concession "looks likely."
Allen has made no official statement in response to the AP reports as of press time, but supporters say he remains upbeat and is closely following the canvassing.
"We're upbeat, watching to see how the canvas finishes," Dan Allen said.
Politics Prof. Larry Sabato said the real surprise was that the race was not called in favor of Webb Tuesday night.
"Anyone who was familiar with Virginia precincts and voting patterns knew that Webb had won," Sabato said, citing Webb's 7,300 vote lead which he termed "quite substantial." Previous Virginia elections have been decided by much smaller margins, Sabato said, including Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell's 2005 claim to victory with a lead of only 360 votes.
There have been two recounts in Virginia elections, most recently in last year's attorney general race.
"History says that if there is a five, six, seven thousand-vote margin, the recount" does not yield significant results, said Center for Politics spokesman Matt Smyth.
Allen can demand a recount after the votes are certified Nov. 27, according to Smyth. The state would allow a recount if requested by the second-place candidate if the difference between the candidates is one percent or less. If the difference between the candidates is less than half a percentage point, the state will fund the recount.
"We could see a completed recount by the end of November," Smyth said.
Virginia's Senate race was one of two inconclusive results after Tuesday's heavily contested midterm elections which turned the House of Representatives over to Democrats for the first time since 1994. With the apparent victory of both Webb in Virginia and Democrat Jon Tester's defeat of incumbent Republican Sen.. Conrad Burns of Montana, the Democrats gained the 51 votes necessary to take the U.S. Senate.
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