text: Sen. Bill Nelson released a statement Wednesday morning announcing that he was disappointed in the election night results. | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Elections Nelson, Scott race headed to recount 
   
   The razor-thin Florida Senate race between Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and the state’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott is headed to a recount, Nelson’s campaign announced Wednesday morning. 
   
   With more than 8 million votes cast, the two candidates are separated by fewer than 35,000 votes, with Scott holding the slim lead. Nelson’s campaign sent out a statement at 1 a.m. saying it was “not the result Senator Nelson and his campaign had worked so hard for,” but that the statement was "not a concession.” 
   
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   In a followup statement at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nelson’s campaign announced that overnight the lead shrunk to a 0.4 percent lead for Scott, which is within the one-half percent margin to trigger a recount under state law. 
   
   Florida is not new to the election recount national spotlight. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court had decide the outcome in Florida in that year’s presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Ultimately the court settled in favor of Bush, who went on to win the state by 537 votes and serve two terms as president. 
   
   Scott spokesman Chris Hartline hammered the move. 
   
   “This race is over. It’s a sad way for Bill Nelson to end his career,” Hartline said in an email. “He is desperately trying to hold onto something that no longer exists.” 
   
   Florida’s 67 counties now must recheck their tallies, a process they initially have until noon on Nov. 10 to complete. In addition, Nelson’s campaign is sending monitors to every county across the state. The campaign is already working with well-known Democratic attorney Marc Elias with the firm Perkins Coie. 
   
   In the statement, Elias hinted at some areas of the state that will get the campaign’s focus. He noted a Tampa Bay Times story where Madison County’s GOP Supervisor of Election Thomas Hardee, a Scott appointee, was quoted saying he wanted to meet with Nelson to “eat his lunch” over claims Nelson made that Russians had been interfering in Florida’s 2018 midterm elections. 
   
   “I was trying to give him as much of a fit as I could,” Hardee told the newspaper. 
   
   Elias singled that comment out and said they would be watching supervisors across the state. 
   
   "We expect the supervisors, regardless of their party affiliation, will discharge their constitutional duties," Elias said. 
   
   ||||| The race for U.S. Senate in Florida between Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican Rick Scott could be headed to a recount. 
   
   >>>Complete election results here 
   
   Scott declared victory Tuesday night, but Nelson’s chief of staff says there will be a recount in the Senate race, per state law. 
   
   "We are proceeding to a recount," Sen. Nelson said this morning, in a brief statement. 
   
   Scott’s lead in the race is 38,717 votes out of more than 8 million cast — a margin of less than one half of 1 percent. 
   
   Nelson's campaign put out a statement on Wednesday saying the race remains tight and Scott prematurely claimed victory. Under Florida law, there is an automatic recount if the margin is one-half of one percent or less. Scott leads Nelson by slightly more than 30,000 votes out of more than 8.1 million votes cast. 
   
   State officials will not officially order a recount until Saturday, when the first set of unofficial returns are due. 
   
   Scott spokesman Chris Hartline criticized Nelson for pushing for a recount, calling it a "sad way" for him to end his political career. 
   
   Rick Scott's campaign put out a statement that said it is embarrassing Nelson would resort to "these low tactics" after voters have clearly spoken. 
   
   Under state law in Florida, a recount is mandatory if the winning candidate’s margin is less than 0.5 percentage points. 
   
   The next step in the process is for the 67 county supervisors of election to recheck the total tally, and for the Nelson campaign to contact voters whose ballots were not counted due to a lack of ID or a matching address, for instance. The deadline is noon Saturday, or perhaps longer under certain circumstances, to determine whether the recount proceeds under law. 
   
   During his speech Tuesday Scott talked about the campaign and described campaigns in general as “divisive” and “tough.” 
   
   “And they’re really actually way too nasty,” he said. “But you know what? We’ve done this for over 200 years, and after these campaigns, we come together.” 
   
   The governor vowed to bring to Washington the same business-like approach he used as an outsider when he assumed office eight years ago as governor. Scott, a wealthy businessman who had not previously held political office, was elected governor in 2010 by beating Republican establishment candidate Bill McCollum and Democrat Alex Sink. 
   
   “The federal government is frustrating. It’s outdated. It’s wasteful. It’s inefficient,” Scott said. “All of us in state government have dealt with the federal government over the last eight years, and we can tell you story after story after story. Now, I’m just one individual, but there are a lot of other individuals in D.C. that want to do the same thing. And I’m going to work with them and we will change, like we did in Florida, the direction of Washington, D.C.” 
   
   Scott choked up after saying there were “a couple people looking down from heaven I want to recognize.” 
   
   “I had the most wonderful mom,” said Scott, who frequently speaks about growing up poor. “She never would believe that I’d be a governor or a U.S. senator.” 
   
   Scott also thanked Jeri Bustamante, a former aide who died in a boating accident this year and who was his Spanish coach. 
   
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target: – Republican Rick Scott declared himself the victor in Tuesday's Florida race for a US Senate seat, but it looks like people may have to bite their nails on this one a little longer. Politico reports that the team of his Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, sent out an early morning statement noting the vote tally was "not the result Senator Nelson and his campaign had worked so hard for." But the campaign also said that statement didn't mean Nelson was conceding, and later Wednesday morning came another statement from Nelson's camp: "We are proceeding to a recount." Per WESH, Scott's lead was 38,717 votes out of more than 8 million cast—which comes out to a margin that's less than one-half of 1%. In Florida, once the margin dips below that benchmark, a recount is automatically triggered. State officials will reportedly order the recount on Saturday. Scott, currently the governor of Florida, reacted via his spokesman, per Politico: "This race is over. It's a sad way for Bill Nelson to end his career. He is desperately trying to hold onto something that no longer exists."