In a race where fractions of percentage points will declare the winner, State Assembly candidate Michael Allen said he will not concede until all the votes in Marin and Sonoma counties are counted.
"It's disrespectful to concede or declare victory at this point. We just need to count the votes," Allen said.
Allen's votes came in at 66,526, or 49.4 percent. With approximately 46,000 provisional and vote-by-mail ballots still being counted just in Marin, every vote will matter.
Allen represented the 7th District that included Napa County as well as parts of Sonoma and Solano counties until it was splintered by redistricting, prompting him to move to downtown San Rafael to run.
Levine has a solid lead in Marin, with 52 percent to Allen's 48 percent. But Allen was slightly more popular in Sonoma, with 50.4 percent to Levine's 49.6. Allen received more than $1.4 million in campaign contributions, including $700,000 from independent expenditure committees, while Levine only raised $253,000 in contributions and over $250,000 from independent expenditure committees.
"Our campaign has defied the odds and emerged from election night with a win. I’m so proud of what we have accomplished." Levine said in an email to his supporters. "Our lead has been consistent since the polls closed, and we fully expect it to continue as final ballots are tallied."
In Marin County, around 5,000 of the uncounted ballots are provisional and the others were mailed in or dropped off at the polls, according to County Registrar
Elaine Ginnold. Ginnold said they expect to have all the votes certified by Dec. 4 or sooner.
At the Marin Democratic Party Headquarters in San Rafael, Allen and newly-elected congressman Jared Huffman celebrated the election results on Tuesday night with more than 250 people. "Michael Allen will be your next assemblyman," Huffman said. "Those votes will come in."
When Allen was elected in 2010 to the 7th District, Sonoma County officials took the full 28 days alloted to count all the provisional ballots. In the end, he came out on top with around a 1,500 vote lead. Levine was in the lead Wednesday morning with around 1,600 votes.
"I've had a long career with lots of victories and lots of defeats," Allen said. "In the end you have to leave it to the voters."
