As expected, New York 27th Congressional District Democratic candidate Nate McMurray will not concede the special election to fill the seat to Republican Chris Jacobs.

What You Need To Know


  • Jacobs declared victory on Election Night up 30,000 votes
  • McMurray said the majority of votes are yet to be counted
  • Campaign plans to have people observing count at every Board of Elections site

"It is not just premature, it would be irresponsible to declare victory as Mr. Jacobs has done," McMurray said. "It would be equally irresponsible for me to claim defeat or submit, which I will not do until all the votes are counted."

Up approximately 30,000 votes on Election Night, Jacobs declared victory in the NY-27 special election. But his Democratic opponent pointed out more people casted ballots in the race by mail than at the polls.

"We know that in any election, an old strategy is to declare victory before the election's over," McMurray said. "We saw Chris Collins do it a few years ago and it threw me off then and I've learned from that, that you do not submit before you count every single vote."

Boards of Election can't begin to start counting those tens of thousands of absentee ballots until July 1. While independent organizations, like the Associated Press, have already called the race for Jacobs, McMurray said the majority of those absentees came from Democratic voters and believes the count will lean hard his way in the coming weeks.

"Most of the people that we speak to, most of the people on our side voted by mail, so I will guarantee you this: The gap will significantly shorten and there's a possibility of victory that still remains," he said.

McMurray said he has some concerns about the election, specifically that he's received many complaints that people did not receive their absentee ballots. He said he's fundraising to pay for a legal team, to bring lawsuits if needed, and to make sure every vote that was properly cast, is counted.

"We are going to have people assigned at every single location to watch the process, to make sure that every vote is counted correctly and nothing is thrown away," McMurray said.

On Election Night, Jacobs said a McMurray win was a statistical impossibility and said the sooner his opponent acknowledged that the sooner the district could have representation it's been missing for nearly a year.

"Nate plays a big role," Jacobs said. "If he's going to hold on and not concede, that's not going to be helpful."

However, McMurray's campaign said Jacobs can't be sworn in until the results are certified anyway, after the absentee process is finished.

"I don't want him representing NY-27 period," McMurray said. "I think he's disgraced himself, he's dishonored his family, and he's dishonored his family's name."

Regardless of what happens, the two candidates are competing in the general election in November and both expressed confidence in their chances.