Sen. Arlen Specter eked out a narrow win over Rep. Patrick J. Toomey in yesterday’s Republican primary for Pennsylvania’s Senate seat — the most contentious Senate primary challenge for either party this year.
With 96 percent of precincts reporting in unofficial returns, Mr. Specter led with 51 percent, or 499,731 votes, to Mr. Toomey’s 49 percent, or 483,626 votes. The Associated Press called the race for Mr. Specter at about 12:15 this morning.
But at that time, neither man had appeared publicly to concede the race or claim victory.
At about midnight, with the candidates separated by just a few thousand votes, Toomey campaign manager Mark Dion said it was too early to talk about a recount, according to PoliticsPA.com.
“I’m hoping it won’t be this margin,” he said.
Mr. Toomey, a conservative who had limited himself to three terms in the House, came from far behind in polls to run almost even with Mr. Specter, a liberal four-term incumbent supported by President Bush, fellow Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum and other key Republican lawmakers in the state.
With outside groups spending freely in the race, it became a referendum on the strength of each wing of the party.
The conservative Club for Growth poured $2 million into the race in trying to defeat Mr. Specter, according to reports.
Mr. Specter countered by spending $10 million from his own campaign fund, and was aided by the Main Street Independent Fund, which defends moderate and liberal Republicans and which paid for its own campaign ad and get-out-the-vote operation.
Voting yesterday morning, Mr. Specter said he was the best candidate to hold the seat for Republicans and to help Mr. Bush.
“I think it’s very important to focus on what President Bush wants,” he said. “He’s the leader of the party. He thinks I can help him be re-elected.”
“The Democrats are on the sidelines hoping that I lose,” he added.
Republicans hold 51 seats in the Senate, while Democrats hold 48 and are aided by a Democrat-leaning independent. Democrats say they have a decent chance to win control of the chamber, thanks to some unexpected retirements by Republicans in states such as Colorado and Oklahoma.
Both Mr. Specter and Mr. Toomey knew the race was narrowing in the final days, as they pleaded with their voters to turn out.
The race was so close that labor unions and the Main Street Independent Fund were encouraging some Democrats to switch registration to vote for Mr. Specter.
Based on yesterday’s returns, Mr. Specter held commanding leads in his home base of Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs, while Mr. Toomey led by big margins in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, and his home area of Lehigh and Northampton counties.
Mr. Toomey, who had spent $3.5 million on the race by early this month, relied on conservative anger at Mr. Specter — and during the past three weeks, it seemed to be working. Opinion polls showed a tightening race, and though Mr. Specter maintained a lead in all of them, Mr. Toomey has predicted winning the race with 51.7 percent of the vote.
As he voted yesterday, Mr. Toomey said: “I’ve been thrilled with the reaction from people I’ve gotten at the polls. It feels very good.”
Mr. Toomey is pro-life and was part of a group of House conservatives that has called for deeper tax cuts and less spending.
Conservative activists nationwide also were galvanized to help Mr. Toomey by the prospect of Mr. Specter becoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee next year if Republicans maintain control of the chamber. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican, will have to give up the gavel because of term limits on chairmanships, and conservatives feared that Mr. Specter would hamper their efforts to put conservatives on the federal bench, particularly citing his 1987 vote against confirming Judge Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court.
Either way, Democrats said, the close race is good news for their candidate, Rep. Joseph M. Hoeffel, who was unopposed for his party’s nomination to run for the Senate.
“Democrats win tonight because of the process which has taken place on the Republican side to date — regardless of the outcome of tonight’s race,” said Brad Woodhouse, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Mr. Woodhouse also saw bad news for Republicans based on the low turnout numbers reported yesterday evening. He said Mr. Bush had promised to use his own turnout operation to aid Mr. Specter, and the low numbers suggested that the operation is lacking.
Mr. Bush is unopposed for the Republican nomination for president, and while Democrats did have a presidential primary, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts has sewn up the nomination.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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