Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, led the 25th Congressional District special general election in Los Angeles County by more than 11,000 votes, according to certified results released Monday.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan announced that a total of 134,624 ballots were processed and 38.22% of eligible voters cast ballots countywide.
The tally showed that Garcia earned 72,815 votes, while Assemblywoman Christy Smith received 61,659. Throughout the election, Garcia kept a lead with more than 50% of the vote. State data, which includes tallies from Los Angeles and Ventura counties, reflected he had 54.9% of the vote and Smith had 45.1%.
The county Board of Supervisors is expected to declare the election officially concluded on June 9.
Garcia was sworn into office on May 19 in Washington, D.C., following a months-long campaign and election win. His focus for the remaining seven months of his term would be to address constituent services, he said.
“We haven’t had a representative in Congress in months, so there’s a huge backlog of constituent services and casework that we need to knock out and start closing in on, and that list just keeps getting higher with the COVID-19 federal payments still not being paid to some local folks,” he said during a phone interview.
He will face off against Smith in November once again for a full, two-year House term.
