Florida Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott has defeated Democratic Senator Bill Nelson after a manual recount put Scott ahead by approximately 10,000 votes.
“Barring any further legal challenges from the Nelson campaign, the outgoing governor will become Florida’s junior senator in January, joining fellow Republican Marco Rubio in the Senate,” USA Today reported on Sunday. “It will be the first time since Reconstruction that the state has had two GOP senators.”
Scott announced that Nelson conceded the race, saying in a statement: “I just spoke with Senator Bill Nelson, who graciously conceded, and I thanked him for his years of public service.”
The results of the manual recount put Scott ahead by 10,033 votes over Nelson, who had served for three terms as a U.S. senator.
USA Today noted that this “will be the first time since Reconstruction that the state has had two GOP senators.”
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