The race for the 24th Congressional District was too close to call as of late Tuesday night with 105,858 votes for incumbent Rep. Michael Arcuri and 104,020 votes for challenger Richard Hanna.

Hanna spokesperson Renee Gamela said late Tuesday night that their campaign believes it is too early to call the race.

“There are thousands of absentee ballots and machines could have been misrecorded,” Gamela said. “It wouldn't be fair to our supporters to concede.”

Arcuri could not be reached for comment.

In 2006, Arcuri, D-Utica, defeated Republican state Sen. Raymond Meier in the race for a seat in the 24th Congressional District.

Arcuri and Meier vied for the spot of Republican Congressman Sherwood Boehlert, who retired after serving 12 consecutive two-year terms.

Prior to his win in 2006, Arcuri was the Oneida County District Attorney for 13 years.

Arcuri's top priorities include the economy, economic development in central New York and withdrawing from Iraq. Some other key issues that he discussed throughout his campaign are energy independence and the Cayuga Indian land claim.

Arcuri, 49, resides in Utica. His elected office experience includes one term in Congress and 13 years as Oneida County District Attorney.

Hanna, the Republican, Conservative and Independence challenger, ran for Congress this year because of a general notion that partisan politics are destroying the country, he said throughout his campaign. Hanna has been a businessman for more than 20 years.

Hanna said throughout his campaign that he would do everything to promote small business and that supporting small businesses is what the state needed in order to revive its economy. Though Hanna said he did not agree with President George W. Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq, he is not in favor of ending the war immediately.

Hanna, 57, lives in Cooperstown. He has no prior elected office experience.

Toward the end of their campaigns, both candidates attacked each other's character and record. During a debate in Auburn last week, Hanna said in his opening remarks that although Arcuri has tried to tie him to Bush, he is not like him. He also said that Arcuri votes 97 percent with the Democratic Party.

Hanna also accused Arcuri of voting in favor of the Fannie Mae bailout because of money he received from them. Arcuri acknowledged that he took money from Fannie Mae, but said it had nothing to do with the way he voted.

It could take up to a week for the final count to be announced.

Staff writer Gitana Mirochnik can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or gitana.mirochnik@lee.net

District 24 returns

Here are the latest, unofficial returns from New York by county in the race for U.S. House District 24.

TP PR Arcuri Hanna

Broome 37 32 6,544 7,705

Cayuga 56 53 14,097 9,714

Chenango 42 42 8,640 8,501

Cortland 28 0 0 0

Herkimer 58 58 9,904 13,503

Oneida 170 158 33,374 33,782

Ontario 15 15 3,335 1,756

Otsego 41 41 8,585 7,741

Seneca 27 27 5,757 5,654

Tioga 17 17 2,928 4,308

Tompkins 37 37 762 524

Totals 528 480 93,926 93,188