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Slaughter-Assini Race Goes To Absentees

When Louise Slaughter won her first congressional term in 1986, it was her closest margin of victory, a win by 3,375 votes. If she wants to win her 15th congressional term, she will have to win her closest race yet against Republican challenger Mark Assini.

The 25th Congressional District seat will be decided by absentee votes after Slaughter finished with a 582 vote lead over Assini. It's estimated that there are between 3,000 and 4,000 absentee ballots. As of 11:52 p.m. Tuesday evening, 56% of the absentee ballots were counted, with an unofficial total of 1,198 votes for Slaughter and 1,175 for Assini.

The two candidates traded the lead back and forth as the results came in. At one point, Assini held a large lead, but Slaughter continued to stay in the race. When the race came down to the final 100 of 787 districts, both candidates stayed within 2 points of each other.