Many observers felt the US Senate race in North Dakota would be a close one.
And there is no clear winner – yet.
Unofficial results show Democrat Heidi Heitkamp with a 2994 vote lead over Republican Rick Berg. Heitkamp collected 160,752 votes, while Berg's total was 157,758.
Speaking to supporters, Heitkamp declared victory.
"Now I am here to tell you, I have every confidence in the world that I am going to be the next United States Senator from North Dakota," Heitkamp told a cheering crowd. "We said in the very beginning that this was going to be an election, not an auction. Guess what we had tonight -- an election."
Berg spokesman Chris Van Guilder says Berg is not ready to throw in the towel.
"North Dakota has a process in place to officially certify the election results," said Van Guilder. "We will be waiting to make any additional decisions regarding the status of the election until that canvassing process is complete."
If the results hold -- Berg could demand a recount. County certification boards meet Friday and next Tuesday, and then the state Canvassing Board will meet to certify the results.
