Allen West: 'This Is Not About Me'

Rep. Allen West continued Tuesday to insist that his refusal to concede to his Democratic challenger is about restoring "integrity" to the electoral process.
 

Trailing his 29-year-old opponent, Patrick Murphy, by some 2442 votes, the Florida Republican filed suit Tuesday preventing St. Lucie County from certifying the election results. The lawsuit demanded a full recount of all early votes, citing what West referred to as "a series of irregularities, missteps, and math" he said does not add up.
 

"This is not about me. This is not about my opponent," West said during a brief telephone interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. "This is about the integrity of our electoral process and doing what is right by the voters."
 

"We did not feel that there should be a certification of this until we have that complete recount of early votes," West added.

There was no response to the lawsuit as of late Tuesday from Murphy, whose campaign reportedly has already begun the transition process. Murphy was scheduled to show on Capitol Hill Tuesday for freshmen orientation meetings, designed to help the newly-elected settle in. The new members, however, won't be sworn in until the new Congress convenes in January.
 

West, a tea party favorite, gave no indication of how long he would keep up his fight. But Politico reported that some Republican officials believe he has little chance of succeeding in his legal challenge and he may come under pressure soon to concede the race.

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In the meantime, Georgia Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Everhart  has told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she would love to have West, who was born in Atlanta, move back to her state and run for Congress again at some point in the future.
 

“I would be glad to have [West] come back to Georgia and at some point run here,” Everhart told the newspaper. “I would certainly try to help him because he has done his job. The way he ran his race didn’t in any way interfere with the job he did. He ran as a Republican, a conservative Republican.”
 

West acknowledged that if another recount is ordered, the results may end up where they are  now — with him losing the race. But he insisted that voters must be able "to trust and have confidence in the electoral process."
 

The West-Murphy race is one of five congressional races around the country that were still  unresolved as of Tuesday. At last count, Democrats were leading in all of them. If those leads hold, the Democrats would gain eight more seats in the House, still leaving them 17 short of reclaiming the majority.