The candidates for the 24th Congressional District are still battling it out 15 hours after the polls have closed, with one declaring victory and the other declining to concede.

Incumbent Rep. Michael Arcuri is leading by more than 6,000 votes, according to the latest unofficial results from New York state.

As of this morning, Arcuri had a total of 116,675 votes and his opponent, Richard Hanna, had 110,833.

Arcuri, D-Utica, said in a press release that he is confident of his win.

"At this point, with all precincts in, I am winning this campaign by nearly 6,400 votes," he said in the release. "I expect that margin to hold and only grow as the roughly 9,000 absentee ballots are counted."

Hanna, the Republican, Conservative and Independence challenger, is not conceding the election at this time, said spokeswoman Renee Gamela in an e-mail.

"With about 10,000 absentee ballots and a number of paper ballots from malfunctioning voting machines, it's clear that this race is not over," Hanna said in an e-mailed statement.

"The official count is under way, and the race is simply too close to call."

Arcuri's lead had been under 2,000 votes with a handful of precincts yet to report as of roughly midnight.

The 24th Congressional District includes 11 counties, including a large part of Cayuga County. Arcuri, the Democratic and Working Families candidate, is seeking his second two-year term. Arcuri's largest margins came in Cayuga and Tompkins counties, where he held leads of more than 4,000 votes.

For more coverage from this race, see Thursday's edition of The Citizen.