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"Democrat Patrick Murphy claims he has defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., in a tightly contested race for the newly drawn District 18 seat.Several media outlets also have\u00A0projected Murphy as the winner, but West\u2019s campaign has told WPBF 25 News the Republican is not conceding this race.ELECTION LIVE CHAT: Get Real-Time UpdatesEarly Wednesday morning, the three remaining precincts in St. Lucie County were tallied, leaving Murphy with a slim lead of nearly 2,500 votes.Absentee ballots in Palm Beach County still need to be counted, but both campaigns acknowledged this race will not show up on all of those ballots because the district only covers a section of Palm Beach County, along with Martin and St. Lucie counties.A spokesman for Murphy said he is confident absentee ballots in Palm Beach County will not make a difference in this race.\"I think our victory sends a message to the country and certainly to the Congress that the extremism has got to end, that we've got to come together as a country, and this just shows that,\" Murphy said Wednesday.West issued a statement Wednesday calling the race \"far from decided and there is no rush to declare an outcome.\"\"Ensuring a fair and accurate counting of all ballots is of the utmost importance,\" West said. \"There are still tens of thousands of absentee ballots to be counted in Palm Beach County and potential provisional ballots across the district.\"Unofficial election results from Palm Beach County show a virtual tie between the two candidates, with West edging out Murphy by just 11 votes. West won easily in Martin County, a Republican stronghold, but it appears St. Lucie County may have sealed the deal for Murphy, where the political newcomer overwhelmingly carried the vote and made up for lost ground in Palm Beach and Martin counties.FLORIDA VOTERS: Is Your County Red Or Blue?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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