It’s official: Lehigh County businesswoman Lisa Scheller has won the Republican nomination for Congress in eastern Pennsylvania’s 7th District.

Scheller bested Dean Browning of South Whitehall Township by 1,654 votes for the right to try to unseat incumbent Democrat Susan Wild, who was unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.

Scheller, president and chairwoman of Silberline Manufacturing Co. with headquarters in Tamaqua, had 24,401 votes or 51.8% to Browning’s 22,747 or 48.2%. The district includes all of Northampton and Lehigh counties and part of southern Monroe County.

Scheller had more votes than Browning in Northampton and Lehigh, but Browning had more than her in Monroe.

It took until early evening Wednesday for all of the absentee ballots to be counted in Lehigh and Monroe counties. Northampton’s count was completed before midnight on Election Day.

Some Lehigh officials wondered why it took so long for their ballots to be counted. The chief voting registrar, Tim Benyo, said the county was participating in a pilot audit program and was processing small numbers of ballots at a time to satisfy this program. Also, Benyo said, Lehigh County has two high-speed counting machines for absentee ballots while Northampton has three.

Benyo acknowledged that Lehigh will be ordering additional equipment to make sure it is ready to handle far more votes in the Nov. 3 general election which features a contest between Republican incumbent Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden.

The Associated Press declared Scheller the winner early Wednesday afternoon after the race had been up in the air for about 18 hours after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

In a statement acknowledging victory, Scheller said, “Our campaign to protect the American dream took a giant step, but our work is far from done. Our fight is only just beginning. It’s time to elect a strong leader for the Lehigh Valley, and I’m ready to be that congresswoman.”