Standing in front of the John Mitchell statue in Scranton, Congressman Matt Cartwright claimed his 6th victory on Wednesday.
"It looks pretty official at this point,” he said.
Cartwright beat opponent and Republican Jim Bognet to continue serving the 8th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Both candidates, vying for the seat for a second time, held off Tuesday on claiming victory in the tight race.
According to unofficial results, Cartwright was up by more than 6,000 votes, winning Lackawanna and Monroe counties. Bognet won in Luzerne, Wayne and Pike counties.
The election is far from over and there are still thousands of ballots left to be counted, said Bognet campaign spokeswoman Kate Constantini.
She said Cartwright sent out a memo asking people not to jump to conclusions and to wait for all of the results to come in. The congressman should follow his own advice, Constantini added.
On Adams Avenue, Cartwright was flanked by his wife, Marion, and sons, Matt Jr. and Jack, as he addressed a small crowd around 3:15 p.m. He again thanked his supporters and volunteers but also those who turned out to the polls.
“There's one group of people to whom I owe my allegiance, and it is those voters, both the people who voted for me and against me, all of the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania," he said.
Cartwright said he is looking forward to seeing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act money be put to work.
He chose to make his victory speech in front of the labor leader's statue to pay homage to organized labor workers who are going to rebuild the country.
Cartwright is also excited to continue serving on the House Appropriations Committee.
"This is a term that I'm really looking forward to because of the groundwork we laid for it in the current term," he said.
