By Adam Pagnucco.
District 16 House candidate Samir Paul, who led for most of the ballot counting over Sara Love but now trails by nine votes, is raising money to finance a recount. We reprint his blast email below.
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Folks,
Sorry for the long radio silence since the election on June 26. The count is finished, and we’re currently down by 9 votes out of 55,581 cast in the race. With such a razor-thin margin, we’ll file for a recount so we can be absolutely confident every vote was counted. Thanks for your support so far. It’s going to cost more than $15,000 in legal fees, so please help if you can manage: samirpaul.com/recount
It’s normal, I think, for a result this close to sting. But as I wrote to my campaign team 11 days ago on an uncertain election night, we overcame some absolutely massive disadvantages to run a campaign that has surprised many of the political insiders who didn’t think a middle-class, immigrant-son teacher like me could compete in a race like this. Win or lose, we definitely won.
In a race this close, every single thing we did mattered. Every door you knocked when you were tired and sweaty, every stranger you greeted at the polls when they were just slightly out of your way, every phonecall you made or email you sent or dollar you gave or tweet you tweeted or postcard you hand-wrote. All of it made this quite remarkable outcome possible, and none of that happened by accident. It happened because of YOU.
So thanks for everything you’ve done so far. If you can kick in a little more for our homestretch recount fund, please stay in the fight with us. I’ll keep you posted as we learn more and — regardless of what happens — I’ll keep fighting for a more just, inclusive, and abundant world.
Samir