Representative Billy Long is going back to Washington. Unofficial finals on Tuesday night show the Republican incumbent received more than 63 percent of the vote to retain his 7th congressional district seat. KSMU’s Anna Thomas reports.
“Anything over 50 percent makes me happy,” Long said.
This will be Long’s third term in office, and his second defeat of Jim Evans. The Democrat received more than 30 percent of the vote in 2012, earned just 29 percent of the votes on Tuesday. Evans said he didn’t think he’d win, but had hoped for higher numbers.
“I do think there’s something terribly wrong with our system. People aren’t voting for people anymore. They’re voting just out of habit, out of what they’re seeing on TV ads and so forth. And they’re not really paying attention to the individuals,” Evans said.
Evans says he’ll retire from politics for now; but still has aspirations of campaign finance reform, and better informing the public on the issues.
Long says he plans to focus on the bills still on hold in congress, as well as keeping money of businesses in the U.S.
“In the new Congress, tax reform is going to be one of the number one things because you see all these companies moving out of the country for tax benefits,” Long said.
Click here for more election results from Tuesday.