After the congressional elections in the US there was initially no winner in the state of Florida. The votes had to be counted several times. Now the Republicans can breathe a sigh of relief for President Trump.
Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson has conceded defeat to Republican Rick Scott after shivering in the Senate election in the state of Florida. Scott was after a third recount of around 10,000 votes before Nelson, as emerged from a survey of the electoral office of Florida.
The Republican came to 50.05 percent of the vote, the Democrat to 49.93 percent. With Scott’s victory, the majority of Conservatives around President Donald Trump in the Senate for a seat.
The former astronaut, who has represented Florida in the Senate since 2001, warned of a „gathering darkness“ in American politics. He called on representatives of both parties to work together and avoid a blockade policy in Congress.
As the newspaper „Miami Herald“ reported, the result should be officially confirmed on Tuesday.
Nelson’s defeat had been preceded by an unprecedented election thriller. On election night on 6 November, both candidates went head to head. Republican Scott, who has been governor of the state on the southeast coast of the United States, finally agreed to shortly before midnight the winner, although still votes were counted and the distance between the two candidates was scarce.
Because the difference between Scott and Nelson fell below 0.5 percentage points, the authorities initially ordered a mechanical recount of votes last week. This is prescribed by the electoral laws of the state.
But even then, the shivering was not over yet: The gap was less than 0.25 percentage points, so some votes had to be counted by hand. The deadline for this ended at Sunday noon (local time).
Nelson called Scott a little later to congratulate him, according to the New York Times and other US media. Trump also congratulated his party colleague. „From day one, Rick Scott has never wavered. He was a great governor and a senator even greater for the citizens of Florida to be“ the president wrote on twitter.
