David Riley

@rilzd

If Democrats went into Election Day anxious about any local race, it certainly wasn't Louise Slaughter's bid for a 15th term in Congress.

In the end, it was likely that contest that caused them the greatest grief. Republican challenger Mark Assini gave Slaughter the race of her career.

The race was too close to call on Tuesday night. Unofficial results from the polls and a partial count of absentee ballots put Slaughter ahead of Assini, but only by 605 votes — 94,251 to 93,646. Another 2,800 absentee ballots still have to be tallied.

"This race isn't over," Assini said at a Republican gathering at the Radisson Hotel Rochester Riverside after polls closed. "I think when all absentee ballots are counted, we'll have won the closest race in congressional history in Monroe County."

Speaking after the tallies came in, Slaughter initially seemed to claim victory, noting her narrow lead.

"Well, it wasn't exactly a landslide, was it?" she said. "But we did win, and we are pretty happy about that."

A reporter told Slaughter that Assini had not yet conceded.

"All right," she replied.

Video: Assini says this isn't over

Slaughter went on to note Democratic losses elsewhere and said Gov. Andrew Cuomo's loss in Monroe County likely hurt the party here.

Coming up with a final count for Slaughter and Assini was complicated Tuesday night by another race that went poorly for local Democrats — the contest between state Sen. Ted O'Brien and Republican Rich Funke.

Before the election, O'Brien's campaign had asked for and received a court order to impound the ballots in his district after the polls closed. This is fairly typical when candidates expect a race to be tight and a recount is possible.

That impoundment order prevented about 2,800 ballots in the 55th state Senate District from being counted on Tuesday night. Both campaigns in the Senate race were expected to appear before state Supreme Court Justice John J. Ark on Wednesday to determine the next step in going through the ballots, according to Tom Ferrarese, Democratic county election commissioner.

However, the race between O'Brien and Funke was not as close as O'Brien might have hoped. Funke unseated him with ease.

Given the results, Jamie Romeo, O'Brien's campaign manager, said Tuesday night that he no longer sees the need to go through the court process. That may speed up the count.

Many political observers wrote off the race as a sure bet for Slaughter, who fended off a much harder-fought challenge from Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks in 2012. Slaughter won that contest with 57 percent of the vote.

This year, the nonpartisan Cook Political Reports rated Slaughter's district as one of 161 solidly Democratic House seats around the nation.

"This is the biggest surprise of the night — maybe the biggest surprise of the decade," said Timothy Kneeland, a professor of history and political science and director of the Center for Public History at Nazareth College.

Pro-Funke, anti-Cuomo sentiment in Monroe County likely worked against Slaughter, Kneeland said.

"What a night for Republicans and the anti-incumbent fervor across the nation," he said.

The outcome clearly caught local Democrats by surprise. Dave Garretson, chairman of the Monroe County Democrats, said as much at his party's gathering at the Hyatt Regency Rochester.

"When a race is this close, there's obviously going to be extra scrutiny on it," Garretson told supporters. "We'll find out what that process will be."

Assini, however, cast the poll results as little shock to him.

"I knew, but I don't think the other side knew it until the end," he told supporters.

Assini said he feels confident in the final outcome because the absentee ballots are from a part of the district that was strong for him.

"We didn't have a lot of money, but we had a lot of heart and a lot of people supporting us, and the voters gave me a chance," he said.

DRILEY@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/rilzd

Includes reporting by staff writers Annette Lein, Justin Murphy and David Andreatta and USA Today reporter Brian Tumulty.