Republican Accidentally Concedes Election Before Polls Close

Derek Myers, an Ohio Republican running for Congress, cleared up confusion on Tuesday after concession emails were accidentally sent to various outlets.

In a follow-up message, Myers claimed that a draft message in the event of his loss was sent out instead of being saved for later.

Context

Myers is an entrepreneur and Republican running for the party's nomination in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District, which will be up for grabs after Representative Brad Wenstrup announced that he will be retiring at the end of his term, having held the seat since 2013.

Besides Myers, 11 other candidates are seeking the nomination. With the district having been rated as solidly red, it is likely that whichever candidate secures the nomination in the primary, which is being held Tuesday, will win the seat in November.

Myers also previously accused former New York Representative George Santos of sexual harassment.

What We Know

On Tuesday afternoon, with hours left to go in the primary, Myers' campaign sent out an email conceding the race, despite it not being called. The message was sent to numerous outlets, including Newsweek.

"Derek Myers, the American First candidate in the 11-way primary race for the Republican nomination in Ohio's Second Congressional Race has conceded," the email opened.

"Tonight did not go as we had hoped, but as we know, this race is decided in the primary. I want to give my congratulations to the Congressman-Elect," the email cited Myers as saying. "I'm looking forward to uniting behind him and working with him to get President Trump re-elected to the White House and evicting Joe Biden. Listen, I'm in my thirties and as I've told everyone on this campaign trail, 'if I don't win this race, that's okay!' I've got thirty-or-fifty more years left—and that's if I live a good life. I'm looking forward to staying in the arena of Ohio politics and working with all Republicans to make Ohio great again!"

Shortly after that message went out, another was sent out with the subject line, "DISREGARD CONCESSION EMAIL," claiming that it had been delivered accidentally as a result of a "technical error." In another follow-up email describing what happened, Myers was quoted as saying a draft concession email had been readied in the event of his loss, but the wrong button was pushed when trying to save it.

"Two emails were prepared for this evening: one declaring a victory and one conceding the race," Myers said. "The concession email was sent in error as it was being loaded into the media distribution portal, as a draft, in the event of a loss. Accidentally, the 'send now' button we clicked instead of 'draft.'

"The winning email was also drafted, but was not sent in error, thankfully. Anyone who works in communications knows it's not uncommon to have speeches and releases prepared in the event of each outcome, especially on such an impotent [sic] night. It's simply good strategy. Whatever the results return this evening, I'll be thankful for this journey. And yes, the media will be getting a release sometime after the results roll in, declaring a victory or concession. Thank you."

Views

In the wake of the snafu, Myers' email incident drew some mockery online, with one X user responding to an official campaign tweet by saying, "Seems Myers is ready to lose."

NBC News reporter Allan Smith also highlighted another questionable aspect of the original message.

"Not only did a GOP congressional candidate accidentally publish his concession email this afternoon, but it appears his campaign pre-wrote its crowd estimate for his watch party tonight," Smith wrote in a post.

What Comes Next

Results have not yet begun to come in from the 2nd District's primary. While polling data is also not widely, available other factors indicate Myers' candidacy is a longshot. Ballotpedia lists his total campaign finances as the lowest of all candidates seeking the nomination.

Update 3/19/24, 4:38 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.