AP/Hunter edit
11/29/20
Mariannette Miller-Meeks is hanging onto a single-digit lead in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District after a completed recount in a race that will help determine the size of Democrats’ majority in the House of Representatives.
After the lead changed hands initially, the race was too close to call, and Democrat Rita Hart requested a recount in all counties in the district. Miller-Meeks has just six more votes than Hart after the recount wrapped up Saturday in Clinton County, which was the last of the district’s 24 counties to report its results.
Miller-Meeks released a statement after the results were announced. She thanked all the county auditors, their staffs and volunteers who conducted the recount. She added, “While the race is extraordinarily close, I am proud to have won this contest….It is the honor of a lifetime to be elected to serve the people of eastern and southern Iowa.
Hart’s campaign is considering legal challenges, which would bring a proceeding in front of a judicial panel.
A state canvassing board is expected to meet Monday, the legal deadline, to certify the results of the race in which more than 394,400 votes were cast. State historians say this is the closest Iowa congressional race in over 100 years; in 1916 the race was won by the Republican candidate as well, but only by four votes.
