Hartford - Depending who was speaking on Wednesday, the Connecticut governor’s race was said to have ended one of the following ways: as the closest finish since 1954, a Republican lead so narrow it would require an automatic recount, or a late-breaking but comfortable 11,000-vote win for the Democrats.

But after the state’s chief election officer declared him the unofficial winner, pending a final tally of town-by-town returns, it was Democrat Dan Malloy, the former mayor of Stamford, taking a victory lap, as his Republican rival Tom Foley refused to concede.

“I want to be very clear that this is a tough mission that Nancy and I have accepted,” Malloy said at a Capitol press conference with running mate Nancy Wyman, where he described “recreating Connecticut on a different economic model.”

Earlier Wednesday Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, the state’s top elections official, declared Malloy the winner over Foley by just 3,130 votes, with some absentee ballots in Democratic strongholds yet to be counted.

That margin, Bysiewicz told a packed news conference at the Capitol, is large enough that an automatic recount is not required under state law. Towns were still submitting formal results, she said, and election results won’t be formally certified until Nov. 25.

And despite a controversial decision to keep polls open an extra two hours at some stations in Bridgeport, which ran out of ballots during the afternoon on Election Day, even throwing out the roughly 500 votes cast during the extra voting period would not be enough to lower the margin of victory to require a recount, Bysiewicz said.

Official tallies are expected Thursday, a Bysiewicz spokesman said, as formal returns continue to come in Wednesday night.

But Bysiewicz’ announcement triggered opposite reactions befitting the hard-fought, bitter governors race, which pitted Malloy, the former mayor of Stamford, against Foley, a former U.S. ambassador and successful businessman.

Malloy appeared at the Capitol late Wednesday afternoon with his running mate, Comptroller Nancy Wyman, to give a first news conference as governor-elect.

The former Stamford mayor appointed Wyman and Tim Bannon, a former official in Gov. Bill O’Neill’s administration who now serves as president and executive director of the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, to head a transition team. He named Bannon his chief-of-staff-to-be, and spoke about establishing a “transparent administration.” He cockily warned the Capitol press that he might “tire you out, because I don’t like sitting still and I don’t like not working.”

And Malloy said his campaign continues to believe that the final tally, including absentee ballots, will put him more than 11,000 votes ahead of Foley.

“I’m quite confident that we’re here for a reason,” he said to a crowd of reporters and supporters in the Old Judiciary Room at the Capitol. “I know that (margin) will stand up. I believe it will grow.”

Foley, meanwhile, refused to concede the race. As reporters were filing into the Malloy news conference, Foley’s campaign sent out an e-mail blast announcing a transition team of its own, including two Connecticut executives: Greg Butler of Northeast Utilities and Brian Flaherty, a former state representative now at Nestle Waters.

In an interview, Foley said his campaign estimates that he is slightly ahead of  Malloy, though by a close enough margin to ensure votes would be recounted. Foley would not say how large a margin the Republican figures showed.

“According to our calculations, we won the race but it’s within the margin,” Foley said. He said his campaign would wait to see what the official town tallies are after they are certified by Bysiewicz’ office in the coming days, “so we can reconcile them and come up with a number that’s correct.”

Still unclear was what recourse the Foley campaign has to force a recount. Bysiewicz said she was powerless to order one, because the race is not close enough, but acknowledged that Foley could seek a court order demanding that the votes be recounted.

Foley said over the course of the day Wednesday that his campaign was still considering its legal options in the event that the unofficial margin of victory holds up for Malloy: “That’s something we would have to look at,” he said.

Malloy was not waiting around: “We’re transitioning, period,” he said.

Bysiewicz and the blame for Bridgeport

Bysiewicz also said blame for the Bridgeport election chaos -- where local officials ordered just 21,000 ballots in a city with 69,000 registered voters -- lay with the city. Her staff habitually advises towns to order enough ballots for a 100 percent electoral turnout, she said, but has no authority to compel local officials to do so.

“I lay it squarely on the shoulders of the registrars of voters” in Bridgeport, said Bysiewicz, who went to court at 7 p.m. Tuesday to help convince a Superior Court judge to leave some polls in Bridgeport open an extra two hours, allowing voters who had been turned away or discouraged by absence of ballots to return to the polls and vote.

“I can’t even begin to fathom” why the number of ballots ordered was so small, Bysiewicz said. The legislature should pass a law, she said, mandating what she called “common sense”: that registrars purchase at least enough ballots to accommodate 100 percent voter turnout in an election.

Republicans, however, took aim at Bysiewicz throughout the day Wednesday for failing to adequately oversee local officials and prevent the Bridgeport mishap, and also for her declaration that a recount would be unnecessary.

“I am disappointed to say the least that the Secretary of the State has come out with an unofficial statement” of the governor’s race results, said Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield.

While the release of unofficial returns is standard, McKinney said Bysiewicz should have waited for an “official result” given the closeness of the race.

Malloy, meanwhile, wasn’t bothered, and said he was ready to get started, whether his opponent had conceded -- or the results had been officially certified -- or not.

“I don’t have days to waste,” he said. “We’re about 60 days away from being sworn in. It’s time to get to work.”

He waved away questions about the bitter race with Foley.

“Ultimately, our strategy worked,” Malloy said, “I’m going to be the next governor, and it’s time to turn the page.”