After ending Election Day with a lead of only about 6,000 votes out of more than 200,000 cast, incumbent Democrat Michael Arcuri issued a written statement boasting about how his campaign overcame incredible odds to defeat Republican challenger Richard Hanna.

We don't begrudge Arcuri the opportunity to enjoy a belated victory party or to publicly thank his staff and the volunteers who worked on his campaign, but the tone of the statement makes us wonder if he recognizes what the slim margin in this race really means.

Even though Hanna is extremely unlikely to overtake the lead when absentee ballots are counted, Arcuri on Wednesday sounded like a candidate who received a mandate, rather than one who earned only slightly more than 50 percent of the vote.

“I am now the first Democrat re-elected since 1934,” he said of the 24th Congressional District race, “and I am only the second Democrat re-elected since the Civil War.”

He went on to talk about his beating incredible odds in a strongly Republican area and overcoming the “attack ads against me” that “lied about my record.”

Perhaps Arcuri should have taken note of President-elect Barack Obama's victory speech, in which he acknowledged that elections are less about the candidate and more about the will of the people.

“I may not have won your vote tonight,” he said, to those who voted against him “but I hear your voices.”

Arcuri, likewise, needs to acknowledge the concerns of the voters who failed to support his campaign, because when he returns to Washington, he is expected to do so as representative of all his constituency, not just those who voted the way he wanted them to.

Nearly half the voters in the district apparently disapprove of Arcuri's performance in his first term in office.

If he fails to work on their behalf during the next two years, he may not get another chance.