Gina Ortiz Jones
Only three U.S. congressional races remain undecided — among them is Gina Ortiz Jones challenge to incumbent Will Hurd in west Texas.
Democrats have picked up 37 U.S. House seats so far. In addition to the Texas seat are congressional races in Georgia and Utah. In all three races, the Republican leads and recounts rarely reverse the initial count.
In a district east of Atlanta, Republican Bob Woodall holds a narrow lead over Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux. She plans to request a recount. In the district south of Salt Lake City, incumbent Republican Mia Love is ahead of Democrat Ben McAdams by about 400 votes. Provisional ballots haven’t been counted yet.
In the west Texas race, Jones plans to ask for a recount. Under Texas law, her campaign would have to pay for the it. The cost is based on the number of precincts and type of equipment used to cast ballots. In this vast district that stretches 400 miles from San Antonio to El Paso, the estimated cost is $100,000.
Jones was in D.C. last week at freshman orientation in case she is declared the winner. In order to win, she’d have to pick up more than 1,000 votes in the recount.
— David Taffet
