As count continues, Smith retakes lead in close congressional race

Christy Smith speaks at an event on election night on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 as preliminary vote tallies dropped, showing that she was in the lead in the 25th Congressional District race. Dan Watson/ The Signal
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In the race for the 25th Congressional District, Assemblywoman Christy Smith has retaken the lead over incumbent Rep. Mike Garcia after Los Angeles County released updated ballot counts on Monday.

Smith, D-Santa Clarita, led Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, by 1,287 votes on Monday after Garcia had held the lead heading into the weekend.

Smith had 50.2% of the votes from both counties as of Monday, while Garcia had 49.8%, according to Los Angeles and Ventura county election results. The updated totals had yet to be reported Monday by the California Secretary of State, which is expected to update its reporting on Tuesday.

Additional results are also expected to come from Ventura County, which updates its tallies on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Similar number-crunching shows the gap remained close in the 21st Senate District between Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and Democratic challenger Kipp Mueller. With the updated numbers released by L.A. County and San Bernardino County, Wilk led Mueller by 3,638 votes on Monday, 50.5% to 49.5%.

As in the 25th Congressional District, the 21st Senate District’s updated tallies were not yet reflected in the state’s totals on Monday, ahead of an update expected Tuesday.

Two other local elections in the Santa Clarita Valley tightened up Monday after the county’s update.

Michele Jenkins continued to hold a narrow lead against Jerry Danielsen in the College of the Canyons Board of Trustees Area 4 race by less than 1%, with the two candidates separated by only 267 votes as of Monday, according to the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Jenkins had 50.52% (12,936) of the vote while Danielsen had 49.48% (12,669), according to lavote.net.

In the race for the SCV Water Agency board of directors Division 3, incumbent BJ Atkins stayed on top of the tally with 28.65% of the votes counted as of Monday, in a race in which the top two of four candidates will win seats on the board. The gap between the second- and third-place candidates was close: Challenger Kathye Armitage held 24.31% of the tally, while incumbent Maria Gutzeit was close behind at 24.02%. Armitage and Gutzeit were separated by only 170 votes.

California has an estimated 2.8 million outstanding ballots that remain to be processed, according to elections officials.

Breakdown of additional races; state and congressional races according to California Secretary of State and local races according to L.A. County, unless otherwise indicated:

25th Congressional District

Christy Smith (D): 50.2%, 160,756

Mike Garcia (R, incumbent): 49.8%, 159,469

(These updated tallies not yet reported by the Secretary of State; derived by combining L.A. County and Ventura County reports.)

21st Senate District:

Scott Wilk (R, incumbent): 50.5%, 178,206

Kipp Muller (D): 49.5%, 174,568

(These updated tallies not yet reported by the Secretary of State; derived by combining L.A. County and San Bernardino County reports.)

27th Senate District 

Henry Stern (D, incumbent): 60.8%, 254,871.

Houman Salem (R): 164,618.

36th Assembly District 

Tom Lackey, (R, incumbent): 55%, 88,083.

Steve Fox (D): 45%, 68,829.

City Council (top two of nine candidates win)

Cameron Smyth: 31.30%, 55,091.

Jason Gibbs: 16.18%, 28,478.

Kelvin Driscoll: 14.47%, 25,475.

Chris Werthe: 11.14%. 19,615.

TimBen Boydston: 9.76%, 17,171.

Aakash Ahuja: 7.77%, 13,683.

Selina Thomas: 7.40%, 13,025.

Kenneth Dean: 1.51%, 2,651.

Douglas Fraser: 0.47%, 825.

SCV Water Agency (top two in each division win)

Division 1

  • Gary Martin (incumbent): 33.02%, 18,608.
  • Beth Braunstein: 26.86%, 15,136.
  • Karla Waymire: 20.97%, 11,817.
  • Christine Okamoto: 19.16%, 10,795.

Division 2

  • Ed Colley (incumbent): 33.94%, 21,963.
  • Piotr Orzechowski: 30.47%, 19,716.
  • Valerie Bradford: 19.04%, 12,321.
  • Anna Kumar: 16.54%, 10,703.

Division 3

  • BJ Atkins (incumbent): 28.65%, 16,415.
  • Kathye Armitage: 24.31%, 13,931.
  • Maria Gutzeit (incumbent): 24.02%, 13,761.
  • Stacy Fortner: 22.02%, 13,191.

SCV school boards

William S. Hart Union High School District

Trustee Area No. 1

  • Linda Storli (incumbent): 45.81%, 9,878.
  • Alyssa Williams: 35.19%, 7,587.
  • Gordon Kirkpatrick: 19.0%, 4,097.

Trustee Area No. 4

  • James Webb: 55.27%, 13,711.
  • Steve Sturgeon (Incumbent): 44.73%, 11,098.

Saugus Union School District

Trustee Area No. 3

  • Katherine Cooper: 51.74%, 4,614.
  • Christian Gadbois: 48.26%, 4,303.

Trustee Area No. 4

  • Matthew Watson: 64.15%, 7,084.
  • Sage Rafferty: 35.85%, 3,959.

College of the Canyons

Trustee Area No. 2

  • Edel Alonso (incumbent): 59.25%, 13,581.
  • Tony Watson: 40.75%, 9,339.

Trustee Area No. 3

  • Sebastian Cazares: 51.95%. 13,135.
  • Fred Arnold: 48.05%, 12,149.

Trustee Area No. 4

  • Michelle Jenkins (incumbent): 50.52%, 12,936.
  • Jerry Danielsen: 49.48%, 12,669.

L.A. County Measure J

  • Yes: 57.03%, 2.07 million.
  • No: 42.97%, 1.56 million.

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