Republican Rick Scott has narrowly won re-election for governor, defeating former governor Charlie Crist in a bitter race that became the most expensive in Florida history.



Scott, one of the nation's most vulnerable incumbents, narrowly won re-election Tuesday after turning back former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who was trying to return to office as a Democrat. He edged Crist by a margin of 48 percent to 47 percent.

The Associated Press called the race at around 10:20 p.m., with only about 80,000 votes separating the two main candidates. Crist did not concede until about an hour later.

"I have two great pieces of news for the people of Florida," Scott said when taking the podium for his victory speech. "First, I'm not going to give a long speech. And second, the campaign is over."

Election Day was not without controversy. Before the polls were scheduled to close, Crist's campaign filed an emergency motion to extend voting hours from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Broward County. A judge denied the motion, and a spokesperson for the county had no additional information.



According to the motion, malfunctions with some addresses caused voters to be bounced between precincts, and ultimately the system didn't register them. Crist's motion says that made them unable to cast regular ballots.

In August, legislators adopted a new map that alters seven of the state's existing 27 districts. Crist's campaign says those changes confused voters.

Pre-Election Day polls showed the race so close there was speculation it wouldn't be decided Tuesday night. A victory margin by a half of a percentage point or less would have triggered a machine recount of all votes cast. But Scott overtook Crist early in the evening and continued to hold a narrow lead as the remaining precincts reported.



The race was nasty, personal and the most expensive in history. Scott's and his Republican allies spent $77 million and Crist and the Democrats spent $40 million, with most of it going toward negative TV advertising.



Anti-Scott TV spots portrayed Scott as "too shady for the sunshine state," focusing on his former health care company paying fines totaling $1.7 billion in 2000 and 2002.

Anti-Crist ads highlighted the former Republican governor's radical shift in his positions after becoming a Democrat and called him a "corrupt politician" because of his past relationships with political allies who ended up going to jail.



Scott promised to move beyond the derisiveness and work with Democrats.

"You know what they say about democracy," Scott said. "It’s messy, but it’s absolutely the best form of government there is. Tomorrow, however, marks a new day. It’s time to put all the division behind us and come together.

"Forget about the partisanship. Florida is on a mission. And that mission is to keep growing and become the very best place in the world to get a job, raise a family and live the American dream."

Crist was gracious, though clearly disappointed, in his concession speech.



"Losing is not fun," he said. "But what is most important is that we come together as a state. This was a tough election and I understand that. And I wish Gov. Scott the best, and his family. But I wish the best also for our state.

Nearly 3.1 million voters were cast ballots before today, leading to an expectation this would be first statewide general election in which a majority of votes were cast before Election Day.

Republicans cast about 100,000 more early votes than Democrats, but that was down from the 272,000-vote pre-Election Day lead advantage Republicans built in 2010, when Scott narrowly defeated Democrat Alex Sink.

Scott, 61, became only the second GOP governor in Florida history to win re-election - and he did it despite low favorability ratings from likely voters for trust and ethics. Only 38 percent of those surveyed in a Bay News 9/Tampa Bay Times/UF Graham Center poll in October said Scott "understands the problems of people like me."

But Scott pushed his message of job growth, and just enough people liked him better than Crist, whom Scott's attacks blamed for the state's economic problems during his term as a Republican governor from 2007 to 2011.

"We have made great strides in the last four years, but we cannot rest on our laurels," Scott said.

Said Crist, "For me it’s never really been about right versus left. It’s been about right versus wrong. And I hope as Floridians, as we go forward, we can focus on that and work together do what’s right to improve our schools and protect our environment and … have good leaders that can set good examples for our children.”