CRISTO COLONADO, Tri. -- After weeks of recounting, Nationalist Assemblyman Tom Jamber has finally conceded the Trinton governor's race to Conservative businessman Jim Valoix.
The race has been close from the start, and the first count of ballots found Valoix ahead by about 40,000 votes out of more than 4.9 million votes cast.
Jamber and the Trinton Nationalist Party immediately called for a recount and a hand-canvassing of the votes.
Trinton Secretary of State Adrianne Rodgers (N) released the latest tally of votes, after weeks of counting and legal disputes. The latest numbers include all overseas and military votes, whereas the original count had not yet included all of those ballots.
The recounts did little to change the outcome. In fact, Valoix narrowly expanded his lead, receiving 50.05% to Jamber's 49.17 percent, respectively.
At a press conference Saturday morning in his home district in northeast Williamstown, Jamber said he was "disappointed to say the least," but that he recognized the hand recount of ballots, which is considered the most time-consuming but also most accurate way to tabulate election results, were not in his favor.
"I want to thank the people of Trinton for hanging in there for the past few weeks, as we have had a very close election that has required a hand recount. I know it's time-consuming. I know it's been frustrating to not know for weeks who our state's next governor was going to be. But I thank you all for hanging in there and being patient. And I thank Secretary Rodgers for ensuring an accurate count of the ballots," said Jamber.
Earlier Saturday morning, Jamber called Valoix and conceded the race, he told reporters.
"As you know, this campaign has been very ugly and very bitter with a lot of personal attacks against me. So, it has been a tough campaign. But we had a pleasant and cordial conversation. I wished him well. I asked him to make good on his pledge to work bipartisanly. I asked him to include Nationalist legislators in his decisions and his policy-making. And I asked him to make sure the radical far-right of the Conservative Party is constrained and leashed during his tenure," said Jamber.
The concession was a painful one for Jamber, and not his first. He previously ran for governor back in 2020, narrowly losing to then-incumbent Marcus Edinough (DR).
"It does hurt to lose. I think it hurts to lose no matter who you are or what party you belong to," said Jamber, when asked about his feelings surrounding his loss. "But the people of Trinton have spoken, and they have chosen to go a different direction, and I have to respect that. The Nationalist Party has to respect that. And frankly, we failed. We should have done a better job of connecting with the voters. And that's really on me, as the leader and the torch-bearer of our party, I own that loss. So, we have work to do over the next few months as we dissect what happened and what went wrong in this race and how we can fix things for next time around," said Jamber.
For now, he will go back to representing his heavily liberal, central Trinton district in the National Assembly. He told reporters he is uncertain about his political future.
"I really don't know what I'll do in the future or if I'll run for statewide office again. I really can't tell you because I truly don't know. I haven't even thought about that yet," said Jamber. "But I'm going to keep serving in the Assembly, serving my neighbors in my district. And I can promise you one thing, I will not stop fighting for Trinton and for progressive values. Just because I lost this race doesn't mean I'm going to stick my tail between my legs and run away and cower. I will continue to fight. I will continue to work with and cultivate new liberal leaders who will be the future of our state. And I will continue to stand up to Conservatives here in Trinton and down in Mavocke when they trample on the rights and freedoms of the Grassadellian people."
The defiant Jamber continued: "I may have lost this match, but I am still in the game."
Further north in Port Alice, Governor-elect Jim Valoix held a press conference, too, at one of his luxury office buildings in the city's central business district.
Valoix thanked Jamber for conceding. "We had a nice chat, he was gracious, and I wish him the best of luck as he continues to serve the people of his district," said Valoix.
The governor-elect also laid out his agenda as he takes the reins of state government.
"We're going to focus on the economy, bringing jobs to our state, reducing and cutting regulations so businesses can thrive and expand. We're going to focus on cutting regulations for housing, so that developers can build new houses and we have more housing options for Trintonians. We're going to get rid of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies that have harmed our state government and have replaced top talent with affirmative action hires. We're going to fix our roads and expand our roads so Trintonians aren't stuck in traffic for hours at a time each day. And we're going to reduce taxes, so businesses can expand and families have more money in their bank accounts," said Valoix, though he gave few details on exactly how he intends to implement all those policies.
Valoix said he "will work with anyone who is on the right side of policy, including Nationalists."
"I've seen what one-party rule does to a state. For the last few decades, that's what we've had here in Trinton. Nationalists running the show and shutting out the minority. I don't plan to govern that way. I plan to listen to everybody who will talk to me, and then go from there."
When he takes office next Monday, Valoix will become the state's first Conservative governor in modern history since statewide elections began back in the early 2000's.
Valoix will also become the first governor from northern Trinton, and at age 76, he will become the oldest governor in Trinton's history.
Trinton is a historically heavily NAT state, although moderate Conservatives have had some success.
But the governor-elect's win was even more astonishing given his track record in elections. He previously, unsuccessfully ran for governor three times: first in 2012, when he lost 41% - 58% to Nationalist Mark De Auonne, then again in 2016, when he just barely finished third in a three-way race against Nationalist Troy Halver and Democratic-Reformist Marcus Edinough, and again in 2020, when Valoix ran for the CNS nomination for governor but lost out in the primary to former CNS Sen. Greg Baxter.
Despite his negative record running for office, Valoix clawed his way back to win the CNS party's nomination in 2024, beating out a score of other well-known Conservative candidates.
And even though Trinton leans heavily to the left, lower turnout among NAT voters helped Valoix clinch victory in the general election. He won most of the rural counties of central and southern Trinton that normally favor Conservatives, but he also won urban counties such as Twixlow, Hampton-Doven, Kelleyville, Port Alice and Southshore.
Two months before the election, a poll found Valoix leading in the liberal stronghold of Oceanview County, the state's most populous. In the end, Valoix lost Oceanview County, but only by a 51%-48% margin, respectively.
Jamber won the traditionally left-leaning counties of Grandley (Tornboro) and Merceda, home to the South Bay communities of Sloane, Kinslerville and Plymouth.
Valoix's win means Nationalists will likely be shut out of the governor's office for another four years, after eight years of Marcus Edinough (DR) leading the state.
It's unclear if Valoix's win is a sign of more permanently competitive elections in Trinton, or just anomalous downturn in NAT support among Trinton's voters.
Regardless, Valoix is poised to make Trinton a more business-friendly state, likely to follow in the footsteps of Trinton's neighboring Conservative-led states, Lial and Kalnier.
While turnout was lower in some NAT strongholds around the state, turnout statewide was still at 81 percent, which is high for Trinton. The state has consistently had one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country.
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**Trinton Governor's Race -- Final Election Results**
| Jim Valoix (C) | 50.05% | 2,777,134 |
| Tom Jamber (N) | 49.17% | 2,728,336 |
| Other | 0.79% | 43,685 |
| TOTAL: | 5,549,155 |
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