NY Rep. Tenney to Newsmax: 'Just Wait Until the Full Count Comes In'

Down by 1,273 votes out of more than 200,000 cast, Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., told Newsmax "we've still got a good chance" and cautioned the press to wait for the roughly 18,000 absentee and military ballots to be counted in New York's 22^nd District.

In an exclusive interview late Sunday night, the freshman lawmaker reminded us she had already gained from the initial vote count Tuesday night. Where the first count showed Democratic State Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi winning by about 1,400 votes, the subsequent discovery of an error in the count from one precinct reduced his edge over Tenney to 1,273 votes.

"So, I have to win 54 percent of what's left to be counted and that's not impossible," Tenney told us.

She added hers is one of the two closest of the nine House races still to be decided. (The other is in Texas' 23rd District, where Rep. Will Hurdm R-Texas, clings to a 1,150-vote lead over Democrat Gina Ortiz-Jones.)

As of Sunday night, an estimated 17,000 absentee ballots remained to be counted. In addition, another 500-to-1000 military ballots await counting.

Inevitably the question arises as to why Tenney's contest with liberal Democrat Brindisi was even close in a district President Donald Trump carried handily in 2016 and which has sent a Republican to the House for all but four years since 1914.

"Because the Democrats were united behind [Brindisi], and I was fighting not only them but the Republican 'establishment,'" Tenney said, explaining how her predecessor, former GOP Rep. Richard Hanna, made it clear he backed Democrat Brindisi and former GOP Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, who represented the district from 1982-2006, was featured on robocalls urging Brindisi's election.

Both Hanna and Boehlert are considered moderate-to-liberal Republicans, while Tenney is a strong conservative.

She also explained "we have eleven colleges in this district — including Colgate University, my alma mater — and the Democrats were very well-organized there. Overall, counting independent efforts, my opponent raised $13 million, and I raised about $9 million. So, here we are."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.