In tight W. Texas race, incumbent refuses to concede to challenger

U.S. Rep. Francisco "Quico" Canseco, R-San Antonio, and his wife, Gloria, arrive at a campaign rally. Canseco said it was too early to concede the race. U.S. Rep. Francisco "Quico" Canseco, R-San Antonio, and his wife, Gloria, arrive at a campaign rally. Canseco said it was too early to concede the race. Photo: Jerry Lara, Staff Photo: Jerry Lara, Staff Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close In tight W. Texas race, incumbent refuses to concede to challenger 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

U.S. Rep. Francisco "Quico" Canseco refused to concede Wednesday to Democrat Pete Gallego, who said a campaign flier mailed to Catholics by Canseco's campaign backfired with Hispanic voters and led to an upset in the San Antonio-based congressional race.

"They found it outrageously offensive in a very personal way," Gallego said.

Canseco, R-San Antonio, countered in a statement that supporters "stood by our side as millions of dollars from liberal attack groups were poured into this election."

Canseco claims widespread voter fraud occurred. He asked the Texas Secretary of State to investigate specific allegations in Maverick County of duplicate balloting and "vote harvesting," which is the illegal bundling of absentee ballots.

Unofficial polling reports in the 23rd Congressional District show Gallego defeated Canseco by 9,222 votes, for a 50.3 percent to 45.5 percent margin. Third-party candidates received about 4 percent of the vote.

The secretary of state is scheduled to canvass the election by as early as next week.

National experts said Gallego's win was a result of a large Latino turnout.

Part of that turnout was trickle-down support for President Barack Obama, said Kyle Kondik, an analyst with the University of Virginia Center for Politics and the only pundit to predict a Gallego win.

Political experts also agree that voters may have been repulsed by the flier that targeted Hispanic voters and may have eroded potential support for Canseco and helped Gallego, a state lawmaker from Alpine, win.

The hard-fought race was marred by mudslinging in TV advertisements, where more than $6.3 million was spent, making it one of the 12 most expensive races in the country, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The flier, sent by the Canseco campaign, said Gallego in his support for Obama's health care plan "forces Catholics to treat pregnancy as a disease and forces us to accept abortions, sterilizations and contraceptives, including those for teenage girls."

It claimed that Gallego "chose to walk away from our faith to protect his political career."

"Turning out supporters is very important, but I think that brochure was way below the belt," said Larry Hufford, a St. Mary's University political scientist.

Hufford said the mailer, which included images of the Jesus, the rosary, the Bible and a baby, had a targeted Hispanic audience. Canseco may have broke a cardinal rule of campaigns.

"I think people that received that ad, and it was geared toward Catholic Hispanics, that ad may have turned some voters away from him," Hufford said. "You do not attack someone's religion or patriotism."

A Canseco spokesman said it was premature to dissect their strategy.

"We are focused on getting the ballots legally counted," said Scott Yeldell, the campaign manager.

Besides claiming fraud in Maverick County, Canseco also questioned the late reporting of precincts in neighboring Val Verde County, on the U.S.-Mexico border, where ballots were not finally counted and reported to the secretary of state until about 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Both counties are Democratic strongholds.

Gallego dismissed the Canseco claims and urged him to accept the results.

"This election has been decided," Gallego said.

The bitter end to the 23rd district race caps a political brawl over the past months for a seat that was targeted by national Democrats to unseat freshman Canseco, who won in 2010 with less than 50 percent of the vote.

Latinos make up 66 percent of voters in the district. They traditionally vote 2-to-1 for Democratic candidates.

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