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HAZLETON — With ballot counting still underway in Luzerne County on Wednesday afternoon, Jim Bognet declared victory in the six-way Republican race for the 8th District congressional nomination.

At least one of his competitors, Earl Granville, did concede the race.

Apparent runner-up Teddy Daniels was having none of it.

“Thousands of absentee ballots in Lackawanna and Monroe counties, as well as thousands of provisional ballots where people should have been able to vote but never received their absentee ballot, have yet to be counted,” Daniels wrote in a post on his campaign Facebook page.

“I concede nothing. I want to see every vote counted,” Daniels added.

The race was made up of Bognet, Daniels, Granville, Mike Marsicano, Harry Haas, Mike Cammisa seeking the GOP nod to challenge Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, in November.

The 8th District encompasses all of Wayne, Pike, and Lackawanna counties, as well as significant portions of Luzerne and Monroe counties.

Bognet’s declaration

A release from Bognet’s press office said the declaration came following the Associated Press’ 4:18 p.m. call of the race.

The latest numbers released by the AP, shortly before 6 p.m., listed unofficial districtwide totals only for four of the candidates, as follows:

Bognet — 13,632

Daniels — 12,279

Haas — 4,203

Cammisa — 1,038.

But those totals were released as Luzerne County’s tally of nearly 40,000 mail-in ballots was just over halfway done.

According to the Luzerne County elections website on Wednesday night, Bognet was leading in Luzerne County’s 157 precincts with 7,052 votes, or 38% of the total. Daniels was second with 4,469 votes (24.08%), while Marsicano (2,751/14.82%) and Haas (2,707/14.59%) were a close fourth and fifth, respectively. Granville (958/5.16%) and Cammisa (527/2.84%) rounded out the race, which also included 94 write-in votes.

But again, thousands of mail-in ballots had yet to be counted, a process set to resume today.

Reactions

Granville on Wednesday said: “As the mail in ballots are counted, it appears we will come up short in our attempt to take back PA’s 8th Congressional District. I am thrilled to have won Wayne County and especially my home county of Lackawanna by such a large margin.”

“I would like to congratulate all the primary candidates on hard fought races and, of course, a particular word of congratulations to the apparent winner, Jim Bognet,” Granville added. “Good luck as you go forward.”

Bognet congratulated his fellow Republicans “for running spirited campaigns,” adding that “all of them care deeply about NEPA and their communities, and all of them stepped forward to serve.”

Daniels, though, was unswayed, accusing Bognet of declaring victory “without waiting for your votes to be counted.”

As noted, that counting continues.