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Stevens concedes race to Begich |
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By Aaron Blake
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Posted: 11/19/08 04:03 PM [ET] |
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who was convicted of corruption charges a few weeks before the election, conceded his reelection race to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) on Wednesday, effectively bringing an end to the career of the longest-serving Senate Republican in history.
Begich’s win was called by The Associated Press on Tuesday night, but Stevens waited until Wednesday afternoon to concede.
The result hands Senate Democrats a seventh pickup and a 58th seat, with two GOP-held seats still undecided. A large portion of absentee ballots delayed the result.
“I am proud of the campaign we ran and regret that the outcome was not what we had hoped for,” Stevens said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful to Alaskans for allowing me to serve them for 40 years in the U.S. Senate. It has been the greatest honor of my life to work with Alaskans of all political persuasions to make this state that we all love a better place.”
The incumbent, who turned 85 Tuesday, wished the senator-elect well and offered his staff to help Begich make the transition.
In a press conference less than an hour before Stevens’s concession, Begich praised Stevens’s service. Throughout his campaign, the incoming senator refrained from directly criticizing Stevens, despite Stevens’s federal indictment and eventual conviction.
“Sen. Stevens has served our state and our nation for more than 40 years, and we honor him and thank him and his family for that great service,” Begich said.
Stevens was convicted in October of seven federal corruption counts. He is appealing.
He led by more than 3,000 votes after Election Day, but Begich surged to a 3,724-vote lead once most of the 80,000 absentee ballots were counted.
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