State Rep. Len Greene Jr. conceded the 105th State House race to Democratic challenger Theresa Conroy Thursday.
Greene told the Valley Indy he called Conroy just after noon to congratulate her on her victory and to wish her well in Hartford.
“Both campaigns ran very, very hard campaigns,” Greene said. “There’s no excuses, the voters made a decision and I certainly respect their decision.”
Greene and his team had raised the possibility of a recount after the results came in Tuesday night, but decided not to force the issue after consulting with election officials in Hartford.
“The Secretary of the State’s office told me it was four votes away from triggering an automatic recount,” Greene said.
The latest unofficial tally had Conroy at 5,141 votes to Greene’s 5,083. The threshold for triggering a recount is whether the amount of the vote difference between candidates is .5 percent or less of all ballots cast. According to the numbers, the difference in the 105th is .56 percent.
Asked if he thought there was a single issue or reason for the loss, Greene pointed out how close the race was when he first won the seat from Conroy in 2010.
“It was close two years ago, it was close this year,” he said. “We just came up a little bit short.”
Greene said high turnout for the presidential election could have helped Conroy’s tally, but that it wouldn’t have been a difference-maker.
As for his political future, Greene said he’s going to take some time off to spend some time with his family before making any decisions.
“I’m a young guy,” he said. “We’ll see what the future holds.”
Note — this story will be updated later.
