Count in Georgia 12 Favors Democrat, But Challenge Is Possible

[Ron Burgundy]

CQPolitics.com - Democratic Rep. John Barrow, according to Georgia’s secretary of state, has won a second term in the state’s 12th District, defeating former one-term Republican Rep. Max Burns by just 864 votes in the rematch of their close 2004 race.

Democratic Rep. John Barrow, according to Georgia’s secretary of state, has won a second term in the state’s 12th District, defeating former one-term Republican Rep. Max Burns (news, bio, voting record) by just 864 votes in the rematch of their close 2004 race.


But it is not yet clear if the state’s certification of the outcome is the last word on the race: Barrow’s winning percentage is less than the 1 percentage-point threshold below which the trailing candidate can request a recount.

The Burns campaign, which has withheld saying whether it would pursue a recount, could not be reached for comment regarding a possible request immediately after the board’s ruling.

According to Chris Riggall, a spokesman for the secretary of state, costs of a recount in this race would be shouldered by the state and not the requesting candidate.

Barrow already claimed victory Nov. 8, despite the fact that election results were not yet complete and the margin was very close.

The election board also officially certified the win by another embattled Democratic incumbent, Rep. Jim Marshall (news, bio, voting record), who won a third House term with a slim 1,752-vote edge over former six-term Republican Rep. Mac Collins in the 8th District.

In a year when Democrats retained all the House and Senate seats they held prior to the election — and most by comfortable margins — the close contests faced by Barrow and Marshall were anomalies.

Both were elected in 2004 in politically competitive districts that were hardly immune to the conservative trend that has boosted Republicans to political dominance in a state that once was a Southern Democratic stronghold.

But Barrow and Marshall faced a big new obstacle in their 2006 races, in the form of a mid-decade redistricting map — implemented by the Republican-controlled state legislature — that took away key portions of their previous constituencies and boosted the number of GOP voters.

In addition, Burns and Collins were among the Republicans’ strongest challenger recruits in this cycle, as they were well known from their previous congressional service.

Barrow’s victory margin over Burns this year was a fraction of his nearly 8,000-vote edge two years ago.

Neither Burns nor Collins had conceded the race by early Wednesday evening.