A number of races in Los Angeles County remain too close to call two weeks after the Nov. 5 general election.
Here are the latest vote counts for some of these congressional, state legislative and city races. The numbers are based on the latest tallies from the L.A. County registrar or California Secretary of State offices and reflect results through shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19.
The county registrar estimated it had 32,300 ballots left to count. Its next update will be Thursday afternoon.
LIVE ELECTION RESULTS: See a chart of the latest vote counts
From left to right, Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Seal Beach, is running against Democrat Derek Tran in the 45th congressional district. (Photos courtesy of the candidates)
Congressional District 45: Democratic challenger Derek Tran pulled slightly further ahead of Republican Rep. Michelle Steel — although the margin between was just 0.2 percentage points — after the two were in a near dead heat the last few days. Tran led by 314 votes on Tuesday — widening his lead by another 212 votes from the previous day, according to the Secretary of State’s website. Tran had 155,090 votes (50.1%) while Steel had 154,776 votes (49.9%).
At one point after the election, Steel was ahead by roughly 11,000 votes. But Tran gradually chipped away at Steel’s lead as more ballots were counted over the past two weeks. He overtook her on Saturday for the first time since Election Day.
This district represents voters in Hawaiian Gardens and Artesia in southeastern L.A. County, as well as northeastern Orange County.
Democrats Laura Richardson and Michelle Chambers are vying to replace termed-out state Sen. Steven Bradford. (Courtesy images)State Senate District 35: Laura Richardson had 122,321 votes (50.56%) while Michelle Chambers had 119,613 votes (49.44%) — a difference of 2,708 votes. Although the percentages remained the same compared to the previous day, Richardson increased her lead slightly by another 24 votes.
The two are vying to represent a district that includes Carson, San Pedro, Compton, West Compton, Gardena, Harbor City, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lennox, West Carson, Watts, Willowbrook, and Wilmington, plus parts of Inglewood, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Torrance.
The winner in this Democrat-versus-Democrat race will replace term-limited state Sen. Steven Bradford. Richardson previously served on the Long Beach City Council, state Assembly, and U.S. House of Representatives while Chambers served on the Compton City Council.
Compton City Council: In Council District 1 race, incumbent Deidre Duhart was ahead of Jasper Jay Jackson by just 18 votes on Tuesday. Duhart had 3,130 votes (50.14%) while Jackson had 3,112 votes (49.86%). The two were separated by 19 votes the day prior.
Covina-Valley Unified School District, Trustee Area 1: Incumbent board member Sue Maulucci appeared to lead challenger Steve Bennett by 40 votes as of the latest update.
Covina-Valley Unified School District, Trustee Area 3: Barbara Campos appeared to be trailing incumbent Maria Elizabeth Cruz by about four percentage points or about 213 votes on Monday afternoon.
Rowland Unified School District, Trustee Area 4: Ellen Park appeared to lead Yvette Romo by about three percentage points or 158 votes in Monday afternoon update.
Irwindale: As of the 4:52 p.m. update on Tuesday, the three incumbents, Manuel Garcia, Mark Breceda and Larry Burrola, maintained their leads. Four candidates ran for three available City Council seats in an at-large election. The top three candidates were separated by no more than 26 votes, with challenger Marguerite Lopez-Sapien appearing to be in fourth place behind Burrola by 36 votes.
Baldwin Park City Council: In another at-large race, eight candidates vied for three available seats. As of 4:52 p.m., Emmanuel Estrada, Daniel Damian and Manuel Lozano appeared to be the top three vote-getters, with current City Clerk Christopher Saenz running fourth behind Lozano by a little more than three percentage points.
El Monte Mayor: Incumbent Mayor Jessica Ancona appeared to lead by about four percentage points, or about 800 votes, as of the 4:52 p.m. update. Challenger Marisol Cortez appeared to have garnered about 48% of the counted votes.
South El Monte City Council: A little more than 100 votes appeared to separate two candidates running for one of two available seats on the City Council. Larry Rodriguez appeared to hold a lead of a little less than two percentage points over incumbent councilmember Richard Angel as of 4:52 p.m. Tuesday.
Walnut City Council: As of the 4:52 p.m. update, incumbents Linda Freedman and Nancy Renne Tragarz appeared to hold a clear lead for two of the three available seats. For the third seat, Kaylee May Law held about a four percentage point lead over the rest of the field. A total of six candidates ran for the three available City Council seats.
San Marino City Council: John Chou appeared to hold about a four percentage point lead over Chun-Yen Chen for the second and final available seat on the City Council. A total of four candidates ran for the two available seats.
Hunter Chang, a retired engineer, captured nearly 34% of the votes and declared victory on Nov. 8. In a social media post, Chang wrote, “I’m honored to serve as your next San Marion City Councilmember.”
But the race for the second seat on the council remained tight. Chou, a financial advisor, had around 26.70% of the votes, while Chen, a CEO and public administrator, held nearly 22.51%. The two are separated by 410 votes, according to the latest update from the registrar’s office.
Steven M. Jones, a business owner, trailed with around 17% of the votes.
Pico Rivera City Council: Incumbent councilmember Erik Lutz appeared to hold about a four percentage point lead over Genaro Moreno for the third and final council seat available. Four candidates ran for three available seats.
Santa Fe Springs City Council: In the race for two seats in the Santa Fe Springs City Council, incumbent John Mora led four hopefuls with 34.88% of the vote. Fellow incumbent Joe Angel Zamora was in second with 30.03% of ballots counted, or 3,160 votes, with only 203 votes separating him from planning commissioner and businessman Gabriel Jimenez, who so far has 28%, or 2,959 of votes. The top two vote-earners will complete the five-member council.
Baldwin Park Unified School District: Three incumbent board members, among a list of eight candidates who ran for three available seats, appeared to be trailing Ricardo Vazques, Yvonne Juarez and Jose Mata. Incumbent Christina Lucero was the closest to retaining the seat but appeared to trail Mata by 735 votes as of 4:52 p.m.
Bonita Unified School District, Trustee Area 5: Results appeared to show Brittany Allison leading by a little less than 5 percentage points over Mark Arvidson, according to the 4:52 p.m. update.
Reporters David Wilson, Anissa Rivera and Teresa Liu contributed to this article.
Related Articles
2024 Election Results: In House race, Steel and Tran remain in dead heat
2024 Election Results: Too close to call from LA to Compton to Cerritos
2024 LA County election results roundup: Adrin Nazarian, Heather Hutt win LA City Council races
Election results: Schmerelson wins in LAUSD, Hutt and Nazarian lead for City Council
In LAUSD District 3 in the Valley, Schmerelson declares victory over Chang