Tierney claims victory, AP says he’s right

Incumbent eight-term Democrat John Tierney – the clear underdog coming into Tuesday’s election after months and millions of dollars of negative ads targeting him and the federal case against his brothers-in-law – pulled a stunning victory over Republican challenger Richard Tisei in Tuesday’s election.”This is your victory,” Tierney told a roomful of supporters at Salem’s Hawthorne Hotel at 12:30 a.m today.Tierney said with 98 percent of the vote showing he was prepared to claim his seat.Tierney said he didn’t want to get into detials about the campaign but he called it ugly and expensive and said Tisei spent “$5.5 million to spread misinformation.” He also said his family had been put through a lot but he had nothing but praise for his campaign workers, his office workers and his supporters.View a photo galleryTisei declined to concede overnight.Reached at 1 a.m., Tisei said “we’re not conceding anything yet. Tomorrow we’ll go over all the numbers.”Tierney picked up 48 percent of the vote while Tisei received 47 percent. The Libertarian candidate Daniel Fishman received 5 percent of the vote.The Associated Press called the Sixth District race in Tierney’s favor just after 1 a.m.Fishman congratulated both campaigns in an email sent out shortly before 1 a.m., calling both men “gentlemen” and saying it was a privlege to run against them. He also said he believes Tierney has won the race.Fishman said he plans to run against Tierney in 2014.”The Committee to Elect Dan Fishman will stay intact and we will run a larger, better-funded and better-organized campaign in 2014,” he wrote in the email.In an editorial board meeting with The Item last week, Fishman admitted his candidacy was a detriment to Tisei more than Tierney.Earlier Tuesday night, Tisei campaign manager Paul Moore made major accusations against Lynn election officials, saying he has eyewitnesses who “told people if you want to get your welfare check, this is the way you’re going to vote.”These eyewitnesses claimed people then checked to make sure the individuals voted the way they wanted.Update: Lynn election officials deny accusationsAt the Hawthorne Hotel, State Sen. Thomas McGee, D-Lynn, said, “We’re waiting for one final victory.”McGee was unopposed for re-election as Democrats in Massachusetts reveled in the U.S. Senate victory of Elizabeth Warren over GOP incumbent Scott Brown.Tisei’s campaign chairman Charlie Baker, the Swampacott Republican who ran for governor in 2010 and had Tisei as his lieutenant governor candidate, said President Barack Obama’s strong showing in Massachusetts on Tuesday night affected Republicans and made a win by GOP candidates tough.Republican and former U.S. Rep. Peter Torkildsen, who lost the Sixth District seat to John Tierney in 1996, described Tisei as “a tireless campaigner.””Races are all about talking to people,” Torkildsen said. “He showed that more than anybody.”But Torkildsen also noted that President Obama’s 25 percent win in Massachusetts made it tough for Republican candidates to prevail Tuesday night.Tisei, a veteran of the Massachusetts House and Senate, launched his campaign for Congress in January. The Wakefield Republican cast himself as a bipartisan candidate who could reach across the aisle, as he put it, to work with Democrats.While campaigning, he touted his own record in the state legislature working cooperatively, noting he had voted against Romney on fiscal issues on legislature as much as he voted with the former governor.Tisei’s campaign attracted supporters like Lynn resident Tiffany White-Ells, a former Obama supporter who switched over to support Republicans when she said she lost hope in Obama making change in the political landscape.And Clay Walsh, a former Lynn municipal candidate, credited Tisei for being an organized, “feel-good candidate” whose personality attracted many voters.Tisei’s supporters at the Marriott included Susan Cole, who said she was confident in Tisei’s campaign and supported him in par