One more Santa Clarita City Council race was called Friday, with another nearing completion as a narrow gap widened a bit.
In District 2, the race was still close, but less so than it was after Thursday’s counts.
Brett Haddoak’s lead increased to 175 votes over Denise Lite, 6,575 to 6,400, after he went up by 62 votes the previous evening.
He now leads with 40.23% of the vote to 39.16% for Lite. Haddoak trailed on election night, 39.86% to 39.03%.
Out of the running for the seat is Gloria Mercado-Fortine, who stands a distant third with 20.62% of the votes.
For the City Council District 5 race, Kelvin Driscoll claimed a win and Bob Khalsa offered his congratulations, after four days of ballot drops left him behind 50.29% to 40.52%, or 8,054 votes to 6,489.
“This victory belongs to the people of District 5,” Driscoll wrote in a campaign statement issued Friday. “Throughout this campaign, residents sent a clear message: decisions about our neighborhoods should never be made without our voices at the table. Our community deserves more than to be heard during election season. We deserve to be centered in the decisions that shape our future.”
Khalsa shared his appreciation to the voters, volunteers and supporters who participated in his campaign and expressed a “continued commitment to the Santa Clarita community,” in his email.
“Santa Clarita is a special place because of the people who call it home. I encourage everyone to stay involved, stay informed, and continue working together to protect the quality of life we all enjoy,” he added. “Once again, congratulations to Kelvin Driscoll. I wish him and the entire City Council success as they work on behalf of our community.”
The L.A. County Registrar-Recorder is scheduled to release another ballot update on Saturday, with an estimated 414,000 ballots left to tally countywide. It is unclear how many of those ballots are from Santa Clarita voters. The county is scheduled to certify its results by Nov. 27.
Congressional districts
While Rep. George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce, won re-election over the challenger, Santa Clarita Councilman Jason Gibbs, in the 27th Congressional District, which represents most of the Santa Clarita Valley, there are two other districts that snag parts of the SCV due to Proposition 50’s redistricting voters approved last year.
In District 26, which includes parts of Castaic before stretching west along State Route 126, Jacqui Irwin led Sam Gallucci by a large margin, 61.9% to 38.1%.
District 30, which includes a sliver of the east side of the Santa Clarita Valley, along State Route 14, before heading south to Burbank, looks to remain in Laura Friedman’s hands. The Burbank Democrat garnered 76.9% of the vote, compared to challenger Scott Alan Meyers’ 23.1%.
Assembly District 34
A seat that represents the most northern and eastern portions of the Santa Clarita Valley is looking more and more likely to remain Republican, as current officeholder Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, has termed out.
In the race to replace him, Charles Frederick Hughes, a Republican member of the nonpartisan Antelope Valley Union High School District governing board, is leading 52.3% to 47.7% over Randall Putz, a Democrat and former mayor of Big Bear.
Assembly District 34 is the second-largest in the state by land mass at 18,296 square miles, stretching east all the way to the state’s border with Nevada.
