Republican leaders want to intervene in a Democratic House of Delegates candidate's federal lawsuit over 55 unopened absentee ballots in Stafford County, writing that the "stakes a could not be higher." The campaign of Democrat Joshua Cole, who lost the 28th District House election last Tuesday to Republican Bob Thomas by 82 votes, requested an emergency court order requiring those 55 ballots to be counted in a race that could determine control of the chamber.