Bob Turner Declared Winner of Race For Disgraced Weiner House Seat
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UPDATE 9:07 p.m. PST: Republican Bob Turner has been declared the winner of the special election to fill former Congressman Anthony Weiner's seat in the House of Representatives, according to the Associated Press.
The AP also reports that Republican Mark Amodei won another special election in Nevada, making the likely new GOP majority in the House of Representatives 242-192.
The two Republican victories, especially in the the heavily Democratic New York 9th Congressional district, are largely seen as a mandate against the Obama presidency.
Former Rep. Anthony Weiner resigned this summer after posting partially nude photos of himself on Twitter. (Creative Commons)
UPDATE 7:22 p.m. PST: With 13 of 512 precincts reporting, the race between Weprin and Turner is a dead heat.
FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver notes that turnout looks to be much lower than in 2010:
So far, ~80 votes per precinct in #NY9. Would extrapolate to about 40K district-wide; there were 110K votes in 2010.
Watch the election results post in real time here.
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Democrats scurried Tuesday to prevent a dramatic loss in the race to replace disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner, who held a seat that's been in Democratic hands since the 1920s.
If Democrat David Weprin loses to Republican Bob Turner, Republicans will label the victory as a repudiation of President Barack Obama's first term, saying American voters are fed up with his policies. That could offer them significant momentum in fundraising campaigns as the 2012 election season kicks into high gear.
A special election in Nevada on Tuesday night is expected to keep a seat in Republican hands while a special election in Oregon in November is expected to keep former Rep. David Wu's seat in the grasp of Democrats.
The polls for the Weprin-Turnet match up in the New York 9th Congressional District race close at 6 p.m. PDT.
