Politics & Government
Finally, a Winner in the Virginia Attorney General Race
Totals still have to be certified between Mark Herring and Mark Obenshain, but preliminary results point to a clear, but still narrow, end to the election.
By Greg Hambrick
State Sen. Mark Obenshain conceded Wednesday in the race to become Virginia's next attorney general after three days of a recount increased the margin of victory for Democratic state Sen. Mark Herring.
The apparent victory gave Democrats a clean sweep of the three statewide offices in the Nov. 5 election, including governor and lieutenant governor.
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"It's been a long and vigorous campaign but it's over," Obenshain said at a news conference, according to multiple reports, including WJLA.
A race with just 165 votes between the candidates on election night has now seen the spread widen to more than 800, with 73 percent of the recount completed, according to the Herring campaign. It's still a close race — one with more than 2.2 million votes cast — but no longer the record-breaker that it appeared to be.
Find out what's happening in Arlingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
All results will need to be certified by the Richmond court overseeing the recount.
In Fairfax County, closely watched because of its large population, Obenshain gained 297 votes, but Herring continued to outpace the Republican, adding 575 votes.
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