Substantially behind as mail-in ballot counting resumed Wednesday, Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright took the lead by day’s end in his 8th Congressional District contest against Republican challenger Jim Bognet, according to unofficial results.
Cartwright, 59, of Moosic, moved to a lead of 7,357 votes by the early evening as Monroe County began posting its counted mail-in ballots on its website. They added to a daylong surge for the four-term congressman fueled by mail-in balloting in Luzerne County.
Monroe only began counting its 33,100 ballots mail-in ballots Wednesday and completed about 18,000, said Sara May-Silfee, the county’s director of elections and voter registration. As of 9 p.m. Wednesday, Monroe had added 12,494 mail-in ballots to its totals.
“We are hoping to be done after lunchtime (Thursday),” May-Silfee said in a text.
Bognet, 45, of Hazle Twp., a managment/communications consultant and former Trump administration official, began the day more than 10,000 votes ahead, but his lead gradually dissipated as Luzerne’s counting of about 30,000 remaining mail-in ballots unfolded. The county received 57,000 mail-in and absentee ballots as of 8 p.m. Tuesday, county manager David Pedri said. By mid-evening, the county had finished counting them, Pedri said, with plans to move on today to ballots that arrived after 8 p.m. Tuesday.
As of 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Cartwright led with 167,466 votes to Bognet’s 160,109.
Counties are allowed to accept new mail-in ballots up until Friday at 5 p.m. as long as they are postmarked by 8 p.m. Tuesday, when polling stations closed. Mail-in ballots have tended to favor Democratic candidates because Democratic voters relied on them more than Republican voters.
President Donald Trump’s campaign, citing a state law, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court again to block any ballots that arrive after Election Day from counting. Trump did that mostly to alter the outcome of his race, but a ruling in his favor could affect the congressional race, too.
However, the mail-in ballots that Luzerne and Monroe counties tallied Wednesday all arrived before the 8 p.m. Election Day deadline.
The 8th District includes all of Lackawanna, Pike and Wayne counties, most of Luzerne County and part of Monroe County.
House members earn a salary of $174,000 a year and serve two-year terms.
By county:
• LACKAWANNA: Cartwright, 65,878, Bognet, 46,193.
• LUZERNE: Cartwright, 57,487, Bognet, 55,912.
• MONROE: Bognet, 21,792, Cartwright, 21,222.
• PIKE: Bognet, 18,578, Cartwright, 13,141.
• WAYNE: Bognet, 17,634, Cartwright, 9,738.
Read More: Cartwright assumes lead in 8th Congressional District race | Election