Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, slightly extended his lead Thursday over challenger Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, in the 25th Congressional District race.
Garcia’s narrow edge was only 466 votes ahead of Smith, as they had earned 168,067 and 167,621 votes, respectively. The new totals included updated tallies from Ventura County.
The 25th district encompasses portions of the Antelope, Santa Clarita and Simi valleys in both Ventura and Los Angeles counties. L.A. County is expected to release updated vote count tallies, as well as the number of outstanding ballots, on Friday.
The incumbent’s slim lead widened since Tuesday when their gap in votes reflected a 422-vote difference, following a back-and-forth close contest since election night.
In the 21st Senate District, which includes parts of L.A. and San Bernardino counties, Democratic challenger Kipp Mueller conceded Wednesday his race against state Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, who said he would wait for further ballot counts before commenting on the results of the election.
On Thursday, Wilk led by 6,314 votes ahead of Mueller, based on vote tallies including an update from San Bernardino County Thursday.
California has yet to process an estimated 318,948 ballots as of noon Thursday, of which 158,845 are mail-in ballots. L.A. County reported Tuesday about 66,245 outstanding ballots.
Breakdown of state and congressional races according to California Secretary of State and Ventura and San Bernardino counties as of Thursday:
25th Congressional District
Mike Garcia (R, incumbent): 50.06%, 168,067.
Christy Smith (D): 49.93%, 167,621.
21st Senate District:
Scott Wilk (R, incumbent): 50.8%, 196,660.
Kipp Muller (D): 49.2%, 190,346.
27th Senate District
Henry Stern (D, incumbent): 60.2%, 283,315.
Houman Salem (R): 39.8%, 187,235.
36th Assembly District
Tom Lackey (R, incumbent): 55.1%, 100,167.
Steve Fox (D): 44.9%, 81,578.
38th Assembly District
Suzette Valladares (R): 76.1%, 148,204.
Lucie Volotzky (R): 23.9%, 46,560.
