In Connecticut, Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy declared victory early Wednesday morning in his tough re-election fight. His Republican opponent, Tom Foley, acknowledged he had "probably" lost their grueling rematch but wasn't ready to officially concede.
Joined by his family, Malloy took the stage at a banquet hall in Hartford soon after midnight. He gave a victory speech to the roomful of supporters that was not quite a victory speech.
“We don’t have the final numbers, but we know what the numbers are. We are going to win this thing," Malloy said to a cheering crowd.
Malloy said he was waiting for the results in two cities. His campaign staff said the cities are Hartford and New Haven, both Democratic strongholds.
"We know what will happen here and why we are a position to declare this victory," said Malloy. "But bottom line is elections have consequences. And those consequences are about not what we’ve done in the last four years, But because this is a new night, or should I say a new morning…its about that we will accomplish in the next four years.”
In their first matchup four years ago Malloy defeated Foley by 6,400 votes after a recount in another Democratic stronghold, the city of Bridgeport.
Under Connecticut law, an automatic recount is triggered in a governor’s race when there’s a difference of less than 2,000 votes.
Well after midnight, Tom Foley told supporters in Greenwich that things hadn't worked the way they were supposed to.
"When you have firm numbers and you know you’ve lost the race you’re supposed to call the winner and congratulate him, but he didn't give me the chance," said Foley. "And, we actually are not sure we lost the race in the same way he's not sure he won the race."
That brought cheers from the crowd, but Foley quickly told them not to get too excited.
“Because we have probably lost this race. But I’m not going to confirm we lost it until we’re sure we lost it.”
Although Foley said he still wasn’t ready to make the concession official, he called it "pretty plain math."
“Let me give you the speech that I would have given if I had conceded this evening, and tell you how much I enjoyed the experience of getting to know all of you and running for office.”
Foley said running for office is not easy, and he doesn’t recommend it to the thin-skinned. He said he regrets he won’t be able to deliver the change in Connecticut that he and his supporters had dreamed about.
