Congressman Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, has declared victory over Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, in the tight race for the seat in California’s 25th Congressional District (CA-25) Friday, with Garcia remaining ahead by exactly 400 votes.
For live election updates, click here.
UPDATE (6:15 p.m.): Garcia took to social media Friday evening to declare victory in the tight CA-25 race.
My statement on election results: pic.twitter.com/qehimJtler
— Mike Garcia (@MikeGarcia2020) November 21, 2020
“After a long, tough fight, I am proud to earn the privilege of serving CA-25 for another 2 years,” Garica said in a statement Friday. “With only a few remaining ballots to be counted, victory is clear.”
Garcia took a moment to commend Smith, who he says ran an “excellent and aggressive campaign.”
“Running in these elections is difficult, and she did it with grace,” he said. “I extend this compliment to all 18 opponents I faced in the last 12 months who also were compelled to serve with hopes to represent this beautiful district.”
Later Friday night, Smith released a statement in response, calling Garcia’s declaration “dangerous to our democratic process.
“The Congressman’s decision is wholly inappropriate, and disrespectful of those who have taken the time to vote this year,” she said. “Our county officials and Secretary of State Alex Padilla have done a phenomenal job of protecting every voter’s right to be heard in the most challenging election of our lifetime. We owe them and especially our voters our continued patience as the process is completed.”
Patience is a virtue.
— Christy Smith (@ChristyforCA25) November 21, 2020
As of Friday, Garcia led by exactly 400 votes.
“I am honored by the supporters who voted for me and humbled by those who did not,” Garcia concluded. “In the end, I will work hard for each and every one of you. And for our Nation.”
Original Story: As of 3:51 p.m. Friday, Smith had narrowed Garcia’s 422-vote lead down to exactly 400 votes after a total of 2,032 votes from Los Angeles County were counted.
Garcia had previously regained his lead a week before, overcoming a nearly 1,300-vote deficit from the day before to establish a 159-vote lead. He later expanded that lead by only 60 more votes on Thursday.
When the first vote counts were reported at around 8:20 p.m. on Nov. 3, Smith held a larger lead over Garcia, as the first round of reporting came from Democratic-leaning vote-by-mail ballots.
However, as the voting center ballots have slowly continued to be reported, Garcia gradually closed that gap.
Then, at around 7 p.m. on Nov. 5, state officials reported that Garcia took the lead over Smith, leading by 265 votes at the time.
He expanded that lead during the Nov. 6 update to 432. However, Smith earned 1,719 more votes than Garcia in the Nov. 9 update, which placed her back in the lead by 1,287 votes.
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Then, Garcia regained his lead the next day, as the Nov. 10 update had him ahead of Smith by 159 votes. He later expanded that lead to 219 after 454 more votes were counted from Ventura County on Thursday.
Smith began to close that gap on Friday, when a 2,479-vote dump from Los Angeles County placed the two candidates at only 104 votes apart.
However, the 2,241 votes counted from Los Angeles County and the 241 votes counted in Ventura County in Tuesday’s update more than tripled the size of that gap.
The results as of Friday afternoon can be viewed below:
| MIKE GARCIA (R) – Incumbent | 169,060 | 50.06% |
| CHRISTY SMITH (D) | 168,660 | 49.94% |
County officials across the state of California have until the beginning of December to report their final results to the state for the presidential race, while they have until Dec. 4 to report the results for all other races. The state then has one week from that deadline to certify the results of the 2020 election.
Neither campaign has officially declared victory or conceded as of Friday afternoon.
The next updated count from Los Angeles County is scheduled to be released Tuesday afternoon, while Los Angeles County is scheduled to certify their results on Nov. 30.
For live election updates, click here.
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