ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Democrat Frank Kratovil has defeated Republican Andy Harris to win a seat that has been held by the GOP for 18 years in Maryland's tight 1st District congressional race.
With the first of two rounds of absentee ballots counted, Kratovil had 49 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Harris and 2 percent for Libertarian Richard Davis.
Kratovil's election-night lead of 915 votes more than doubled to 2,003 after the first absentee ballot count was completed Friday.
About 4,800 provisional ballots will be counted Monday and an unknown number of absentee ballots will arrive by mail for a final count Nov. 14, but it would be nearly impossible for Harris to reverse the trend in which he has been losing nine of the 12 counties in the district.
