World News: OnPolitics Today: And the winner of Ohio's special election is...too close to call

Tuesday, August 7

12th Congressional District Republican candidate Troy Balderson speaks during a rally with President Donald Trump, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018, in Lewis Center, Ohio.

Troy Balderson appears to be headed for victory

But the race still hasn't been called

It's just past midnight, OP fam, but we're still thrilled to bring you this late night edition to give you some election results (well, sort of).

Keep up with the latest, get your friends to subscribe and let's go.

Oh, Ohio

Republican Troy Balderson, President Donald Trump's chosen candidate, appeared to be on the road to representing Ohio's 12th district in Congress. But the race between Balderson and Democrat Danny O'Connor was still too close to call as of midnight.

The Cincinnati Enquirer's Jessie Balmert and Marilyn Icsman explain: If the vote is within 0.5 percent including provisional ballots, an automatic recount would be triggered. If the vote is within 1 percent, O'Connor could challenge the results. Several thousand provisional ballots will be counted in the coming days.

Per unofficial results, with 100 percent of the vote in, Balderson led O'Connor 50.2 percent to 49.3 percent. The margin was just 1,754 votes. (Though as we learned, it's far from the first time that a congressional race in Ohio was really, really close.)

And while O'Connor has yet to concede, President Donald Trump already declared victory and Balderson appeared triumphant on Tuesday night.

"Tonight, I'm going to promise to you, I'm going to work relentlessly for this 12th congressional district," Balderson said.

Balderson and O'Connor faced off to take the place of Pat Tiberi, who retired earlier this year.

Here's the thing, though: It never should have been this close. Republicans, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich, have represented the district for decades. And registered Republicans outnumber Democrats 2-to-1.

Also in elections news: Read about the latest in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington.

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