Last run at the M.G.P. numbers

All seven of the counties with areas that make up the Third Congressional District in Washington are showing final numbers in last month's general election. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is now shown as winning over Joe Kent by 2629, a 183-vote decrease in her margin since we last checked in a week or so ago. She even lost 133 votes in Clark County, which added a total of 609 votes to the two candidates' tallies since then. No doubt there were some successful appeals by Kent voters whose ballots had been challenged over signature discrepancies.

With the final numbers in hand, we see that there won't be a recount unless Trumpy Joe pays for it. There would have to be a gap of less than 0.5 percent between them district-wide in order for the taxpayers to foot the bill for another count. By my math, the final margin is 0.85 percent.

Just shy of 320,000 votes were cast. More than 64 percent of them were in Clark County, where MGP took 55.1 percent of the vote. In Pacific County, which makes up less than 4 percent of the voters in the district, she collected 50.9 percent.

In the other five counties – Cowlitz, Lewis, Skamania, Thurston, and Wahkiakum – Kent prevailed by about a 3-to-2 margin. But it wasn't enough. He fell just short. 

The final results are to be certified by the state Secretary of State by a week from today. And so will end the story of a big surprise. That's one less Republican House member to listen to for the next couple of years. Too bad the Dems blew the new seat in Oregon, more or less canceling out this victory.