Texas Democrat Ortiz, 28 Years in Office, Loses to Republican After Recount

19 hours ago

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Texas Democrat Solomon P. Ortiz, who represented a district in the Rio Grande Valley along the Mexican border for nearly three decades, has conceded to Republican Blake Farenthold after a recount confirmed the challenger's narrow margin of victory.

Farenthold's triumph upped the GOP's pickup in the House of Representatives to 62 seats, and marked one of bigger upsets of the 2010 midterm election, The Hill newspaper reported Tuesday. The recount gave the race to the Republican by 648 votes.

Rep. Solomon Ortiz, Texas Democrat, loses bid for reelection

Rep. Solomon Ortiz, Texas Democrat, loses bid for reelection

Farenthold, a political neophyte, had previously worked as host of a radio program. Ortiz, 73, a member of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, won reelection two years ago by a comfortable 58 percent. Now, he gets stuck with the cost of the recount.

Filed Under: House, Democrats, Republicans, National Security, 2010 Elections, Congress, Military, Mexico

Tagged: blake farenthold, dailyguidance, solomon ortiz

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