Democrat Kristin Kassner has flipped a Massachusetts House seat after taking the lead over five-term Republican Rep. Lenny Mirra following a district-wide recount, giving Kassner a victory by a single vote, CBS News reported Sunday.
According to the news outlet, Mirra led Kassner by 10 votes out of more than 23,000 cast across the North Shore district in the original certified results for the Nov. 8 election, a margin well within the legal threshold that allowed her to file for a recount.
When Topsfield officials finished re-tabulating ballots Thursday from their town’s first precinct, the overall result flipped and put Kassner up 11,763 to 11,762, an infinitesimally tight outcome that the incumbent plans to challenge in court.
“It’ll absolutely be a legal challenge,” Mirra said after the final result was announced.
Kassner picked up 10 votes in Ipswich, four votes in Rowley, three votes in Topsfield, a net single vote in Newbury and one vote in Georgetown, according to data provided by Galvin’s office. Mirra added a net five votes in Ipswich, three in Topsfield and one in Newbury while losing a vote in Rowley, CBS News reported.
Mirra said he “absolutely” believes the updated map played a role in the tight race.
“I got totally screwed in this redistricting. I lost five of my seven towns. Usually, a rep district changes by maybe five percent or 10 percent,” Mirra said. “It’s an unheard-of amount of change for my district. It was devastating because it’s like starting all over. There was no benefit to being the incumbent because we were a complete unknown in these new towns.”
If the result holds, it would reflect another blow for Republicans, who lost every Massachusetts statewide race, and expand the gains Democrats made to their legislative supermajority this cycle.
