Rep. Maffei concedes, GOP gains 63rd seat

Rep. Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.) conceded to his GOP challenger Tuesday afternoon, giving Republicans their 63rd pickup in the House.

He trailed Republican candidate Ann Marie Buerkle by 567 votes in a race that has been too close to call. Lawyers for both campaigns were due in court Wednesday, where Maffei was reportedly considering asking for a hand recount of the more than 200,000 ballots cast in the race.

Instead, he conceded the election.

In his concession statement, the freshman lawmaker defended his voting record.

"The electorate may have changed tremendously from 2008 to 2010 in terms of who turned out to vote, but I kept my pledges to the people who elected me and I will forever be proud of that. Not only do I not apologize for my positions on the stimulus, the health care bill, financial reform, and the credit card bill, but my only regret is that there were not more opportunities to make healthcare more affordable to people and businesses and get more resources to the region for needed public projects — particularly transportation and public schools," he said.

That leaves three House races uncalled: Reps. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.), Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.). The Democrats have leads in all three.