Gill Declares Victory, Goetten Won’t Concede in Race to Challenge Johnson for Congress

Democrat David Gill declared victory Wednesday in his bid to mount a fourth challenge to Congressman Tim Johnson. But Matt Goetten says he wants to wait until all the ballots are counted.

Gill announced early Wednesday morning that unofficial numbers in the 13th Congressional District Democratic primary show him with 15,507 to Goetten's 15,364 --- a 143 vote margin.

Gill says his narrow victory comes even though Goetten spent more money on campaign media buys than he did.

"This was definitely a victory for a citizen-power campaign over the Wall Street money and the Washington DC power brokers," Gill said .

Gill had previously criticized Goetten for not pledging to refuse any future superPAC contributions. Goetten had also received an endorsement from Illinois U-S Senator Dick Durbin.

Gill's declaration of victory does not rest on official numbers, however. And Gill says the votes may be subject to a recount.

Meanwhile, Goetten's campaign manager says they'll wait until provisional and overseas ballots are counted, to see if Gill's slim majority will stand.

In a statement released Wednesday morning, Goetten said, "Washington might tell us that our voices don't matter, but this campaign is about fixing Congress, and that's why every vote must be counted".

Final results in the 13th District race were delayed by problems in Macoupin County. Once those votes came in early Wednesday morning, they added more 2144 votes for Goetten versus 1262 for Gill. But Goetten's larger count was not enough to complete erase Gill's narrow lead in the other counties.

Meanwhile, Congressman Tim Johnson of Urbana won the Republican nomination in the 13th District.

Final, unofficial results show Johnson the winner with 69% of the votes, while Frank Metzger polled 18 percent, and Michael Firsching was third with 13 percent.

Johnson says he wants to continue to focus on constituent service, jobs, and the economy.

"I've been doing the same thing, sending the same message for a number of years," Johnson said. "Obviously, they've had a favorable reception or I wouldn't have been nominated or elected for 44 years.