Tom Reed was the newly created Southern Tier district's choice for the House of Representatives.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Reed beat out Nate Shinagawa for the 23rd congressional district seat in Washington, with 52 percent of the votes cast.
"We just received a gracious concession call from my opponent. We are getting the final numbers in. We won 10 out of the 11 counties in the district," Reed said. "I am so grateful to all the volunteers, all the supporters and to our new friends. We are looking forward to being the representative for the area in Washington, and we are going to work hard to get the job done."
Article Photos
U.S. Rep. Tom Reed gives a victory speech to his supporters with his wife, Jean, and children, Autumn and Will, at the Radisson Hotel in Corning Tuesday night.
Eric Wensel/The Leader, Corning
Reed spent his day Tuesday with his family, as well as bow hunting to clear his head, although he said he didn't get anything. He also said he spent some additional time knocking on doors before heading to the Radisson Hotel in Corning for an election-night gathering.
"It was a great event here tonight. There was a lot of excitement, a lot of great people coming together to celebrate our victory," Reed said.
Reed credited the people on his campaign for their support.
"We just got out there and did the work," he said. "It was a team effort, a great group effort. It was just overwhelming and humbling to receive all that support."
Shinagawa, on the other hand, said he felt very good about the results of the race.
"Obviously, I'm sad that we lost the campaign, but at the same time, we got so close to being able to win this race," he said. "I think we showed people that this district is not a Republican district. It is a swing district. I am excited for anybody that runs in the next couple of years, because we've shown that this is a district where a Democrat could win."
Spending time on his campaign allowed Shinagawa to meet many people, which he said really stood out to him.
"It really showed me that the issues we talk about and the policies that we have really affect people here in the district. I hope that Congressman Reed and this Congress will actually really fight for the middle class that is really struggling in this district."