Update, Nov. 10: The Associated Press called the race for Elijah on Tuesday at 2:09 p.m., a week after Election Day, WKMG reported. Dalton then issued a statement congratulating "Congressman-elect Ryan Elijah" after the call, according to the station. In a social media post afterward, Elijah said he was "honored by the faith of the people of Central Florida" and pledged to work to keep their trust, WKMG reported. The results are still unofficial; the state Elections Canvassing Commission is scheduled to certify them on Nov. 17.
Florida's 7th Congressional District race will not go to a recount, leaving Republican Ryan Elijah on track to succeed U.S. Rep. Cory Mills in the seat that covers all of Seminole County, including Winter Springs, and part of Volusia County.
Elijah finished 1,631 votes ahead of Democrat Bale Dalton out of 324,454 ballots cast, a margin of 0.503%, according to the state's first set of unofficial returns as reported by Florida Politics. Florida orders an automatic machine recount only when that margin is half a percentage point or less, so the race missed the threshold by a sliver.
Central Florida Public Media calculated that it came within nine votes of triggering one.
"We have secured a winning margin of votes and just got word from the Florida Department of State that there will be no recount in our race," Elijah said in a statement carried by Florida's Voice and Florida Politics.
He said the overseas ballots still arriving would not change the outcome and that he expected to travel to Washington this week for orientation for new members.
What happens next
The result is not yet official. Under the timeline the Department of State gave Florida's Voice, counties submit a second set of unofficial returns by Thursday, Nov. 12, which decide whether any race needs a hand recount, and the state Elections Canvassing Commission certifies the results Nov. 17.
Ballots from military and overseas voters can still come in for several more days under federal rules, Central Florida Public Media reported, but the provisional and signature-review ballots county canvassing boards handled late in the week added fewer than 300 votes in the race. Elijah's lead shrank by about 70 votes as those were counted.
The state did order a machine recount in the 27th Congressional District in Miami-Dade County, where the margin was 0.44%.
