SAVANNAH -- Official election results certified Tuesday show Republican congressional candidate Lee Anderson won his GOP primary runoff two weeks ago by a scant 159 votes -- a victory margin so thin it will be reviewed in a recount.
Unless the results are overturned by a new count of the ballots, which appears unlikely, Anderson will face U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Augusta in November.
Barrow is the last white Democratic congressman from the Deep South. The race is easily Georgia's most competitive U.S. House race this year and it's being closely watched nationally after state lawmakers redrew Barrow's district to give the GOP an edge.
"We have won the battle," Anderson spokesman Ryan Mahoney said, urging Republican voters who were divided between four Republicans in the primary race to unite behind Anderson. "Now it's time to win the war!"
Augusta businessman Rick W. Allen, the runner-up in the Aug. 21 runoff, immediately asked Secretary of State Brian Kemp for a recount. The candidate is entitled to one under state law because Anderson's victory margin was less than 1 percent of the total votes.
"Given the fact that it was so close ... we think it's prudent to make sure everything was counted properly," Scott Paradise, Allen's campaign manager, said Tuesday.
Kemp's spokesman, Jared Thomas, said election officials were planning to have the recount finished Thursday.
A recount isn't likely to change the outcome. With electronic voting, re-tallying the ballots is much like punching the same numbers into a calculator a second time. When election officials recounted the July 31 GOP primary to make certain Allen had advanced to the 12th District runoff, the results shifted by just four votes.
Anderson, a 55-year-old state lawmaker and farmer from Grovetown, hasn't been sitting around waiting to be declared the GOP nominee. He declared victory as soon as the unofficial and incomplete results of the runoff two weeks ago showed him edging Allen by 154 votes. The official tally, which included a number of previously uncounted absentees, showed Anderson picking up five votes.
Barrow, who is seeking a fifth House term, also appears confident that Anderson is his opponent. Barrow launched a TV ad last week that attacked Anderson by name.
It took two weeks to certify the congressional runoff results because a federal judge in July ordered Georgia to give military and overseas voters an extra 10 days after the election to return absentee ballots. The Justice Department had complained that Georgia's three-week runoff period doesn't allow enough time for absentee voters to receive and return ballots mailed abroad.
Partisans on both sides expect a fierce fight for Barrow's seat. Republican-led state lawmakers redrew the district last year to carve out Savannah, Barrow's home and his Democratic base. The congressman moved to Augusta earlier this year.
Barrow had more than $1.3 million in the bank to spend on his re-election campaign as of July 1. Anderson reported having barely 10 percent of that amount on Aug. 1 amid the primary campaign, but he'll benefit from heavy spending by the National Republican Congressional Committee. The committee has reserved $900,000 worth of air time in Barrow's district for the fall campaign and rolled out its first ads attacking the congressman in August.