Pa. third-party candidate: I’ll soon be ‘most hated man in America’

The Libertarian candidate in the special congressional election in Pennsylvania joked that he expected to be “the most hated man in America” as the votes he earned contributed to the race being too close to call late Tuesday night.

“We’re only a few hours away from me being the most hated man in America,” Drew Gray Miller tweeted.

We’re only a few hours away from me being the most hated man in America #PA18

— Drew Gray Miller (@DrewGrayMiller) March 14, 2018

With 99 percent of precincts reporting in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District as of roughly 11:30 p.m., the margin between Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone was just 847 votes. 

Meanwhile, Miller had accrued 1,351 votes, according to The New York Times.

The Associated Press ruled shortly before 11:30 p.m. that it would not declare a winner on Tuesday night because the race was too close to call.

The race will be determined early Wednesday morning after absentee ballots in Washington County, Pa., are counted.

Miller told ABC News that the close race was “exactly the outcome” he wanted, because it would send a message that every vote matters.

Miller said that he believes the margin here sends the message that every vote counts and that he’s extremely proud to be the first third-party candidate in the district in decades.

— Adam Kelsey (@adam_kels) March 14, 2018

Republicans are hoping to stave off a Democratic upset in the western Pennsylvania district that President Trump won by nearly 20 points in the 2016 election.