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Democrat Dana Balter conceded to Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) in the race for New York’s 24th Congressional District on Friday. 

Balter, a former professor in Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, announced her concession a day after Katko won the election. Katko, an alumnus of SU’s College of Law, will now serve a fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He previously defeated Balter in the 2018 election by about 6 percentage points.

Although Katko declared victory on Election Night after leading the race by about 20 percentage points, Balter’s campaign said she wouldn’t concede the race until absentee ballots were counted.

As of Friday afternoon, Balter had received 18,297 absentee votes while Katko only had 8,344 votes. But Balter’s lead in absentee ballots was not enough to overcome Katko’s advantage in votes cast on Election Day and during the early voting period.

Onondaga County was set to begin counting absentee ballots on Monday, but the county delayed the process until Tuesday after several candidates, including Katko, filed lawsuits requesting more oversight over ballot counting. Katko’s victory comes nine days after Election Day.

The 24th Congressional District consists of Onondaga, Wayne and Cayuga counties and parts of Oswego County.

In the 2018 election, Katko led in Wayne, Cayuga and Oswego counties while Balter won a slim majority of Onondaga County. Katko was one of few Republican congressional representatives in the state to retain a seat in a district carried by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

Published on November 13, 2020 at 6:44 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss