The bitter rivalry between Republican congressional candidates Eddie Edwards and Andy Sanborn ended on Tuesday night when Sanborn called his loss before the final, official results were in.
He told a crowd of supporters in Bedford that with precinct numbers from the Seacoast and conservative strongholds near Manchester, he couldn’t see a path for closing the gap with Edwards.
“We never stop fighting for the state, we never stop fighting for America, and we never stop fighting for those conservative liberty values that we believe in," he said. "But unfortunately for us it looks like we’re going to come up a bit short."
Sanborn said he would support Edwards in the general election.
At a GOP debate in August, Edwardssaid he could not pledge his supportfor Sanborn, if his rival had won, because of what he called Sanborn’s “character flaws.”
Sanborn would not comment on this aspect of the campaign, saying he had focused his efforts on talking to voters about conservative policies and values.
Most Sanborn supporters said they were ready to support Edwards, but Steve Miller of Merrimack worried that with Chris Pappas as the nominee, Edwards had an uphill battle.
"Eddie Edwards is going to really crank it up," Miller said. "It's not going to be as easy as winning this one."