GOP adds to victory in Nov.
An Arizona recount gives Republicans their largest House majority in 83 years.
PHOENIX - Republicans will have their largest U.S. House majority in 83 years when the new Congress convenes next month after a recount in Arizona gave the final unresolved midterm race to a Republican challenger.
Retired Air Force Col. Martha McSally won a House seat over Democratic incumbent Ron Barber by 167 votes out of nearly 220,000 cast, according to results released Wednesday.
Barber was district director for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords when he and the congresswoman were wounded in a mass shooting at a political event in Tucson in January 2011. Barber then won a special election to fill out the remainder of Giffords' term after she stepped down in early 2012. He went on to defeat McSally in that year's general election to win a full term in Congress, in a race separated by fewer than 2,500 votes.
Congratulatory call
Barber said he wouldn't contest the results and that he called McSally to congratulate her. "I want her to be successful because the people of southern Arizona deserve that," he said.
McSally said it was time to unite after a long campaign battle and that she plans to focus on economic development and border security. "These things are not politically charged, and really it's where the majority of people that I talk to, where they want my focus to be," she said. "So my intent is to represent them on the things that unite us and not the things that divide us."
Giffords and her husband, retired Navy captain and NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, congratulated McSally and reminded her that they support more gun control, an issue that came up in the campaign when their political action committee attacked McSally for not backing a law banning misdemeanor-convicted stalkers from buying guns. The ad was pulled after McSally said she had been a victim of stalking and supported keeping guns out of stalkers' hands.
Gun-violence debate
"While it's no secret that we supported our friend Congressman Ron Barber in this hard-fought race, we are pleased that this campaign included an important and substantive debate on how to reduce gun violence in our communities," their statement read.
McSally, 48, was the first woman to fly in combat for the Air Force. The results of the mandatory recount mean Republicans will hold their largest House majority since the administration of President Herbert Hoover, controlling 247 seats to 188 for Democrats.
The Second District was the last outstanding congressional race from the Nov. 4 general election.