The latest batch of ballots moved the Democratic challenger into the lead in a Central Valley congressional district, one of two in California that have not yet been called.
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The updated count Wednesday morning in District 13 has Democrat Adam Gray with 104,503 votes and Republican incumbent John Duarte with 104,321. Ninety-nine percent of the ballots had been counted, according to the Associated Press.
It was the first time that Gray had held the lead.
The two men ran against each other for the seat in 2022, and the race was tight then, too: Duarte won by 564 votes.
The district includes parts of the counties of Merced, Madera, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Fresno. Both men have backgrounds in family agricultural businesses, and Gray was an Assembly member from 2012 to 2022.
In the state’s other uncalled House race — District 45, in Los Angeles and Orange counties — Democratic challenger Derek Tran is saying he has won, but Republican incumbent Michelle Steel had not conceded as of Wednesday afternoon.
The tally as of Tuesday evening, with 99% of the votes counted, was 157,960 for Tran and 157,347 for Steel, according to the Associated Press. Because of the tightness of the race, both candidates have asked donors to finance a possible recount.
Already, one congressional seat in California has been flipped from Republican to Democrat: George Whitesides took a northern Los Angeles County district from incumbent Mike Garcia.
The seven California House districts in which no incumbent was running were all won by a candidate of the previous representative’s party:
12: Lateefa Simon (D), replacing Barbara Lee
16: Sam Liccardo (D), replacing Anna Eshoo
20: Vince Fong (R), replacing Kevin McCarthy
29: Luz Rivas (D), replacing Tony Cárdenas
30: Laura Friedman (D), replacing Adam Schiff
31: Gil Cisneros (D), replacing Grace Napolitano
47: Dave Min (D), replacing Katie Porter
Besides the two in California, one other U.S. House race has not been called, in an Iowa district where the Republican incumbent holds an 800-vote lead over her Democratic challenger.
