Hi Folks,
Over the Thanksgiving break, we continued monitoring ballot processing and updated our Close Count Tracker with new numbers in close contests as more votes were added to results.
The biggest change came last Wednesday, when the Associated Press called Congressional District 45 for Democratic challenger Derek Tran. While the race is still close, with only 596 votes separating the two candidates and 11,565 ballots remaining to be processed in Orange County, the count in Los Angeles was mostly complete by Tuesday night and Republican incumbent Michelle Steel conceded the race.
In the Central Valley's CD 13, Democratic challenger Adam Gray took the vote count lead over Republican incumbent John Duarte last Tuesday for the first time since Election Night. Gray began leading the race with just a 105-vote margin, which increased to a 190-vote lead by Thursday. By Friday, the most recent update on this race showed just 227 votes currently separate the two candidates and 3,107 ballots remain to be processed in three of the five counties that are home to this district: San Joaquin (2,311); Stanislaus (196); and Fresno (600).
Meanwhile, today the California Legislature convened to swear in new members and hold a regular session as well as a special session called by Governor Gavin Newsom. In Assembly District 58, with a 600-vote lead, Republican Leticia Castillo declared victory last Tuesday, while her Democratic opponent Clarissa Cervantes had volunteers working over the holiday weekend to cure ballots, as one supporter shared on X. Currently, just 641 votes separate the two candidates. While only 1,000 ballots remain to be processed in the two counties - San Bernardino and Riverside - that are home to this district, they had a combined 16,600 ballots eligible to cure heading into the holiday weekend, with the cure deadline yesterday.
The Secretary of State's Unprocessed Ballots Status report was updated this morning, showing 37,533 ballots remain to be processed and counted statewide. Counties have a three-day window to certify election results. The earliest they can certify is Tuesday, December 3rd, and the latest is December 5th according to the state's election calendar. These deadlines were established through legislation, AB 3184, enacted in September.
CVF's Close Count Transparency Project will continue to update the Close Count Tracker daily until the December 5th certification deadline.
At the national level, the Associated Press has called 214 House races for Democrats, 220 for Republicans and just one race, California's CD 13, remains to be decided.
In other news - tomorrow is Giving Tuesday and if you support CVF and the work we do, we would greatly appreciate your making a financial contribution!
-- Kim Alexander, California Voter Foundation