HAMBURG, NY - Nearly three weeks after election day, Congressional hopeful Nate McMurray conceded to incumbent Chris Collins in the race for the 27th district.
2 On Your Side was in Hamburg Monday afternoon for McMurray's announcement, in which he said in part, "Let me say it here first: When the time is right, I will run for office again."
"It is with some regret offer my concession to Mr. Collins. It was a hard decision," McMurray told supporters.
This speech came following a count of absentee and other outstanding ballots that showed McMurray about 1,400 votes short in his upset bid, a number reflecting one half of one percent of the votes cast in the heavily republican district.
It was an unexpectedly tight race for the 27th Congressional seat, made so by the indictment of Collins on charges of insider trading and lying to the FBI in August.
McMurray said he made that hard decision, in finality just this morning, after weighing options such as suing in an attempt for a recount - an option that was a long shot at best.
"After discussing the matter thoroughly with counsel, I feel it is in the best interests of the community to move on from this chapter to the next," McMurray said.
He wanted to urge his supporters not to feel disheartened by the loss saying, "This is this huge swing, this unprecedented swing in votes. That means that thousands of thousands of conservatives and independents and republicans decided to trust me, a democrat. It's something that's very unusual, and I'm proud of it."
McMurray also announced the formation of something called Fight Like Hell (borrowing the name from his campaign theme) as a new political organization.
"We're gonna use this organization to organize and to find ways to work to get people who feel disenfranchised or feel apathetic about politics to get more involved," McMurray said.
In fact there’s already a web site up and running.