POMPANO BEACH – Congressman Allen West makes his first public appearance since apparently losing his re-election bid to Democrat Patrick Murphy. (Source: CBS4)
Reporting Tim Kephart
CAMPAIGN 2012
FORT PIERCE (CBSMiami) – Congressman Allen West is quickly running out of options to try and save the Congressional seat he lost to Democrat Patrick Murphy on November 6.
A Port St. Lucie judge rejected a request from West and his attorney’s for a recount of the votes from last Tuesday’s election.
The one-term Republican has been rejected in court in both Palm Beach County and St. Lucie County in the last week.
According to the Palm Beach Post, West’s attorneys had changed their request Friday for a recount to include absentee ballots from the county.
West has repeatedly claimed major problems with the elections and has said St. Lucie County Elections Supervisor Gertrude Walker is to blame. West’s lawyers want six days of early balloting recounted.
According to Politico, West is prepared to unleash a Bush v. Gore lengthy fight should the court turn down his request Friday and Murphy is certified as the winner on Sunday.
The Florida secretary of state’s office is also auditing St. Lucie County’s vote-counting procedures this year after saying it was “concerned” about the results, according to Politico.
Murphy has started to fundraise for the possibility of a prolonged legal battle. He previously said that he spent all of the money for his campaign in the days and weeks leading up to Election Day to try and knock off West.
Murphy is in Washington going through freshman orientation for Congress, but did release a statement that read in part:
“Once again, Congressman Allen West’s political stunts have been dismissed by the courts. Instead of admitting defeat, Allen West wants to keep counting votes until he gets the outcome he desires. That’s not how elections work and that is not how the law works. Patrick is ready to put the campaign behind him and move forward with addressing the challenges facing the people of the Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches, first and foremost of which is getting Florida back to work.”
West has been both controversial and popular in his only term in Congress. He famously claimed to know of more than 80 members of Congress who were Communists, reminding everyone of the days of Joseph McCarthy.
But West was immensely popular among the tea party faithful and conservative Republicans. He also waged a very public and bitter battle with Democratic National Committee chairperson/Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
