Published: November 15, 2008 12:52 pm      

New Albany's Clere is official winner in District 72 race

The votes are all in, and Republican Ed Clere is the official winner in the State Representative District 72 race.

The deadline to count provisional ballots was noon Friday. In Floyd County, Clere finished with 14,869 votes while Democrat incumbent Bill Cochran had 14,687 votes. District 72 covers 52 precincts in Floyd County and one in Clark County. Cochran beat Clere 190 to 116 in Clark County but still came up 108 votes short.

On Election Night, Clere had a 114-vote lead.

He finished with 14,980 votes, or 50.32 percent, to Cochran’s 14,866 votes, or 49.68 percent.

“It was a close race so I was not taking anything for granted,” Clere said about waiting for the final tally. “I just want to represent everyone in District 72 regardless of how they voted. I want to earn their trust and respect.”

Cochran, a 34-year incumbent, did not want to comment for this story.

Clere said he has spent the last two days in Indianapolis going through orientation. He said he is excited about the upcoming session. He said he would also like to talk to Cochran.

“I have still not heard from Mr. Cochran,” he said. “I hope we have the opportunity to talk. One of my goals is to get any constituents’ case work transferred to me so we don’t lose anything in the transition.”