US: Florida Democrat calls for recount in Senate race

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON

Democratic Senator Bill Nelson called for a recount on Wednesday while he narrowly trails behind Republican Governor Rick Scott in the Florida Senate race.

Nelson's Chief of Staff reportedly said that there will be a recount, in a race that many said was too close to call.

In order to trigger an automatic recount, the margin of votes between the two candidates needs to fall within 0.5 percent of the total tally.

Nelson, the Democratic incumbent, is currently trailing 35,000 votes out of a total of 8 million, well within the parameters to trigger a recount.

Scott, however, has declared victory as his spokesman Chris Hartline noted in a statement that "the race is over."

Many other races came very Tuesday night, as Democratic candidate for Florida governor Andrew Gillum trails by a 0.7 percent margin, and Stacey Abrams trails the race for Georgia governor by a 0.9 percent margin.

However, Abrams vowed to remain in the and called for every vote to be counted. Both these elections may also be headed to a recount.

Democratic hopes for a "blue wave" fueled by opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump fell short as the midterms came to a close Tuesday night.

The Democrats lost critical ground in the Senate, however, the party was able to take control of the House of Representatives.