Tight Southland races for Congress headed to the finish line Saturday in Orange County.
On Saturday, the Orange County Registrar of Voters delivered a final update in the county’s 45th Congressional District, with incumbent Rep. Michelle Steel defeating Democrat challenger Derek Tran. With 100% of the vote in, Steel took in 120,532 votes to Tran’s 110,392 to win 52.2%-47.8%.
In the 47th District, the agency declared Dave Min, D-Irvine, the winner against Republican Scott Baugh in a squeaker. Min nabbed 143,746 votes to Baugh’s 142,668 for a 50.19%-49.81% victory, with 100% of the vote counted.
The 49th Congressional District, which includes parts of San Diego and Orange counties featured a race between Rep. Mike Levin, D-Dana Point, and Republican Matt Gunderson. With the vote fully tallied, Gunderson took 56.1%-43.9% of it, or 63,356 votes to Levin’s 49,577, according to the Registrar of Voters.
Meanwhile, the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk released its fourth ballot count update Saturday evening, showing Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, losing his lead in northern Los Angeles County’s 27th Congressional District race to Democrat George Whitesides, a former NASA chief of staff.
Results indicate Whitesides now holds a 50.4%-49.6% lead, a difference of 2,114 votes.
“It is essential that every vote cast by the people of our district is thoroughly and accurately counted,” Garcia said in a statement after the previous ballot count update. “While we await the final results, variations in daily vote totals are to be expected as the process continues.
“I am confident that when all votes are in, our message of economic security, safe neighborhoods and protecting critical programs like Social Security and Medicare will have resonated with CA-27 families.”
After Friday’s new totals, Whitesides wrote on social media the he won “over 57% of new votes counted” with “thousands more to come.”
There were no new updates Saturday in the other closely contested races.
The L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk estimated the number of outstanding ballots to be processed at 526,000. Of those, were 420,000 vote-by-mail ballots; 94,000 conditional voter registration ballots; and 12,000 provisional ballots.
The next ballot count update is expected Sunday.
As of Friday, Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, was holding a 7,380-vote lead over Democrat Will Rollins in his bid for a 17th term representing Riverside County’s 41st Congressional District, 51.42%-48.5%.