State Rep. Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, has claimed victory in her re-election bid to represent District 41, but her opponent, former Eugene Mayor Jeff Miller, isn’t yet conceding defeat.
Wire reports show that as of 7 p.m. Wednesday, 100 percent of the precincts had been counted, and Walker had won by 632 votes.
But Miller said he was told the race is still too close to call, and he will not concede defeat, despite the polls now being closed for more than 24 hours.
“I don’t know if I’m going back to regular life or if I’m going to a more creative life,” he said.
Miller said he is not claiming victory either, he is just waiting until there is a definitive answer because he has received conflicting election results.
According to the Associated Press, Walker garnered 12,596 votes for 51 percent of the total ballots, while Miller earned 11,964 votes, or 49 percent.
Though the race had been close, Walker claimed victory this morning after a majority of the precincts had reported in.
“I’m feeling absolutely ecstatic,” she said. “I went to bed last night feeling I had lost this race, and woke up finding I had won.”
Walker said she discovered the election results almost by accident.
“I got up to do paperwork on the Web and thought, ‘Oh well, I’ll check out the elections page to see how much I had lost by,’” Walker said. When she discovered she was ahead, “I went screaming through the house. When I saw the final unofficial results, it was an incredible feeling.”
She had remained optimistic Tuesday evening as she watched the results slowly unfold at the Lane County Fairgrounds. She reassured her supporters who came to the fairgrounds that she was expecting it to be a close race, and it was: Miller held the lead with more than 50 percent of the vote for all of Tuesday night, into early Wednesday morning.
“I think the student votes had a lot to do with [the results],” Walker said. “We had a lot of students voting at the last minute.”
Like the presidential election, every vote counts, Walker said. She also thanked students for their support in volunteering and voting for her in the tough campaign against Miller.
Brian Lamb, a co-worker of Jeff Miller’s who helped work on his campaign, said he knew the race would be a tight one.
“We knew up to the last minute it could go either way,” he said. “I wasn’t totally surprised.”