Projo Politics Blog

In the one of the closest statewide elections of the night, Governor Carcieri turned back a challenge from Democrat Charles Fogarty by about 8,000 votes.

The final vote was: Carcieri 197,016;
Fogarty 189,099.

Republican Carcieri held a 6,400 vote lead over the lieutenant governor when elections officials started counting the 14,000 absentee ballots. The governor waited for that count before addressing his supporters at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Warwick.

But Fogarty would have had to get 10,000 of the 14,000 absentee votes to overtake the governor. He didn't.

The Board of Elections announced at 12:30 this morning that Carcieri added more than 1,000 votes to his lead.

Carcieri was noticably tired when he made his victory speech at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick at nearly 1 a.m.

"My name is Don Carcieri and I'm still your governor," he said to his cheering supporters. "I had a half-hour speech, but I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired."

Fogarty conceded defeat at the Providence Biltmore hotel.

"I made a prediction that the numbers were going to be 51 to 49 [percent], but I had the numbers a little backwards," Fogarty said.

Here's how the election went tonight:

At 12:27, with the absentee votes counted
Carcieri 197,016
Fogarty 189,099

At 11:55, with all 565 precincts counted
Carcieri 188,773
Fogarty 182,350

At 10:49, with 547 precincts
Carcieri 186,221
Fogarty 176,110

At 10:41, with 537 precincts
Carcieri 182,569
Fogarty 172,918

At 10:38, with 513 precincts
Carcieri 171,133
Fogarty 164,392

At 10:36, with 503 precincts
Carcieri 170,051
Fogarty 162,109

At 10:26, with 476 precincts
Carcieri 160,230
Fogarty 152,403

At 10:23, with 469 precincts
Carcieri 159,062
Fogarty 150,927

At 10:20, with 458 precincts
Carcieri 157,008
Fogarty 148,452

At 10:17, with 444 precincts
Carcieri 153,968
Fogarty 143,627

At 10:14, with 427 precincts
Carcieri 150,590
Fogarty 139,364

At 10:12, with 408 precincts
Carcieri 146,630
Fogarty 133,000

At 10:07, with 377 precincts
Carcieri 139,130
Fogarty 124,954

At 10:04, with 368 precincts
Carcieri 136,803
Fogarty 122,410

At 9:59, with 344 precincts
Carcieri 128,258
Fogarty 114,138

At 9:56, with 332 precincts
Carcieri 124,338
Fogarty 109,962

At 9:51, with 294 precincts
Carcieri 109,360
Fogarty 98,280

At 9:47, with 264 precincts
Carcieri 99,505
Fogarty 88,615

At 9:45, with 238 precincts
Carcieri 88,548
Fogarty 78,897

At 9:42, with 155 precincts
Carcieri 72,170
Fogarty 65,406

At 9:37, with 155 precincts
Carcieri 55,763
Fogarty 52,770

At 9:35, with 110 precincts
Carcieri 36,698
Fogarty 36.369

At 9:30, with 62 precincts
Carcieri 20,124
Fogarty 20,491

At 9:25, with 26 precincts
Carcieri 7,945
Fogarty 9,082

9:22 p.m., with 7 precincts
Carcieri 1,335
Fogarty 1,978

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