Clarke led by more than 4,700 votes with just the absentee ballots in the city of Milwaukee left to count, and shortly before midnight, Moews refused to concede. Shortly thereafter, Clarke told supporters he felt good about his chances but would not declare victory until all ballots were counted.
"We like where we're standing right now," he said.
When the last of the absentee ballots were counted early Wednesday, Clarke had beat Moews by 4,644 votes.
"Without the air support of talk radio, this would have been very difficult to do," Clarke said.
"In the end elections are about voters. They're about people. They're not about special interests. They're not about political parties. They're about people. They demonstrated their support for me tonight."
He thanked supporters, including Chris Cox of the National Rifle Association, and said he would have more to say on later Wednesday.
Interest in the race grew after former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's political action committee put up more than $150,000 to try to defeat Clarke and his pro-gun stance. In all, outside groups spent more than $550,000 to try to defeat Clarke in what became a political battle of gun control forces vs. Clarke, who received support from the National Rifle Association and other groups.
Faced with an avalanche of outside campaign dollars, Clarke said just days before the election: "I trust the voters. The voters can't be bought."
Clarke is all but assured of victory in November, because there is no Republican opposition and a little-known independent candidate, Angela Walker, running.
