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UTAH COUNTY -- Democrat Jim Matheson will keep his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Early Tuesday evening at GOP headquarters, it looked like a race that was too close to call. But in the end, Republican challenger Morgan Philpot didn't have enough votes to overtake Matheson.
"I think it's a disappointing record on the part of my opponent the last 10 years," Philpot said. "I also think it's a Republican year. Republicans are turning out. We've had some people on our campaign, hundreds of people literally, who just did amazing things and really pitched in."
In the end Philpot did close the margin with Matheson by a considerable amount. With all precincts counted, Matheson won 50.68 percent to Philpot's 45.92 percent. Philpot attributes that to a strong campaign and a strong get-out-the-vote effort.
For Matheson, who won a sixth term in Congress, it will be a very different Congress from the one he's used to serving in because so many Republicans nationwide were swept into office by the Tea Party tide.
"While this wave was moving in one direction, there was a campaign out there that moved in the opposite direction. That helped the Matheson campaign win tonight," Matheson said.
This is the closest margin of victory that Matheson has experienced since 2002. He's built his margin wider with each election since, until Tuesday night when he was nearly swept away by the Republican tide, but managed to survive.
"Most people, whether they're left, right, Democrat or Republican, they just want to elect officials who are going to be honest and try to solve problems. I think that is why I succeeded," Matheson said.
Philpot countered, "This is not the end of our work because it has just begun. If you think for one minute that Washington D.C. will ever be trustworthy, you're mistaken."
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Story written with contributions from Richard Piatt, John Hollenhorst and Randall Jeppesen.
