UPDATED @ 10:15 p.m. Wednesday: Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro Cortes has applauded Jonathan Saidel’s decision to waive a recount in the Democratic lieutenant-governor primary. See details below.
Jonathan Saidel will no longer advocate a recount in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, his campaign manager announced Wednesday afternoon.
The decision, effectively a concession by Saidel, puts rival Centre County Democrat Scott Conklin in line to receive the party nomination for the office. Conklin will face Republican nominee Jim Cawley, a Bucks County commissioner, in the November general election.
Saidel campaign manager Don Jones said ‘it is clear to us that the final totals will find Jonathan trailing by more votes than we believe we can overcome in a recount based on previous experience.
‘Jonathan Saidel has spent a lifetime saving taxpayers money and has determined that the estimated $500,000 a recount will cost the state is not justifiable given the significant odds against a successful conclusion from our perspective,’ Jones said in a prepared, written statement. ‘Jonathan has instructed his legal team to prepare notification to the Secretary of State of his request not to proceed with the automatic recount.’
Unofficial counts released on Tuesday showed Saidel, of Philadelphia, with 314,448 votes statewide — less than half a percentage point behind rival Scott Conklin, who had 318,310 votes.
That difference was narrow enough to trigger a recount, required when the margin of victory is less than .5 percent. Under state law, only a concession from Saidel could have stopped the recount.
As of late Tuesday, the Saidel campaign appeared ready to let a recount proceed. But as nearly 4,000 last-minute provisional and absentee ballots were being tallied for the first time Wednesday, Jones said, it became clear that Saidel could probably not prevail in a recount.
‘I salute Jonathan Saidel for making this difficult decision in order to save Pennsylvania’s taxpayers a substantial amount of money,’ Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro Cortes said in a prepared statement. ‘During these historically challenging financial times, every dollar is important to the continuation of programs that serve the public. I thank Mr. Saidel for putting our residents’ interests ahead of his own aspirations.’
Voters went to the polls just more than a week ago for the primary elections. The third Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, Doris Smith-Ribner, received 268,585 votes in the unofficial count released by the Pennsylvania Department of State on Tuesday.
The Conklin campaign looks forward to working with Saidel, Smith-Ribner and their supporters ‘to help make (Democratic gubernatorial nominee) Dan Onorato our next governor,’ Conklin spokesman Tor Michaels said.
He said the Conklin campaign will be contacting the Onorato campaign ‘to see how we can help.’
‘We all need to pull together,’ Michaels said.
Conklin, a two-term state lawmaker from Rush Township, also is running for reelection to his state House seat, representing the 77th District. If he wins election as representative and as lieutenant governor, he has said, he will quickly give up the House seat.
He would retain the House seat only until a special election could be scheduled to select a successor, Conklin said.
Earlier coverage: Saidel Allows Recount To Proceed In Lt. Gov. Race
