More than two weeks past the Nov. 5 general election, there are still more than a dozen races in Los Angeles County considered too close to call.
Here are updated vote counts for some of these congressional, state legislative and city races. They’re 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. Thursday, Nov. 21.
An estimated 19,700 ballots remain to be counted in L.A. County, according to the registrar’s office. Its next update will be Tuesday, Nov. 26.
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 continued to extend his lead over Republican Rep. Michelle Steel — although the margin between them remained unchanged at just 0.2 percentage points on Thursday. Tran led by 480 votes, according to the Secretary of State’s website. Tran had 156,576 votes (50.1%) while Steel had 156,096 votes (49.9%).
At one point after the election, Steel was ahead by roughly 11,000 votes. But Tran managed to close that gap and overtook Steel in the vote count on Saturday — the first time since Election Day. He has since gradually increased his lead.
This district represents voters in Hawaiian Gardens and Artesia in southeastern L.A. County, as well as northeastern Orange County.
State Senate District 35: Laura Richardson had 122,744 votes (50.57%) while Michelle Chambers had 119,995 votes (49.43%) — a difference of 2,749 votes. Richardson widened her lead by another 41 votes since the last update.
The two candidates 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 19 votes — widening her lead by just one vote since the last update. Duhart had 3,140 votes (50.15%) while Jackson had 3,121 votes (49.85%) on Thursday.
Covina-Valley Unified School District, Trustee Area 1: Incumbent board member Sue Maulucci appeared to lead challenger Steve Bennett by 39 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 4 percentage points, or 212 votes.
Rowland Unified School District, Trustee Area 4: Ellen Park appeared to lead Yvette Romo by about 3 percentage points, or 160 votes.
Irwindale: 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 35 votes.
Baldwin Park City Council: In another at-large race, eight candidates vied for three available seats. 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 3 percentage points.
El Monte Mayor: Incumbent Mayor Jessica Ancona appeared to lead by about 4 percentage points, or 822 votes. 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 2 percentage points over incumbent Councilmember Richard Angel.
Walnut City Council: 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 4 percentage point lead over the rest of the field. A total of six candidates ran for the three available council seats.
San Marino City Council: John Chou appeared to hold about a 4 percentage point lead over Chun-Yen Chen for the second and final available seat on the 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 Marino City Councilmember.”
But the race for the second seat on the council remained tight. Chou, a financial advisor, had around 26.70% of the vote, while Chen, a CEO and public administrator, held nearly 22.5%. The two are separated by 414 votes, according to the latest update from the registrar’s office.
Steven M. Jones, a business owner, trailed with around 17%.
Pico Rivera City Council: Incumbent Councilmember Erik Lutz appeared to hold a nearly 4 percentage point lead over Genaro Moreno for the third and final council seat. 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 34.9% of the vote. Fellow incumbent Joe Angel Zamora was in second with 30.04%, or 3,169 votes. Only 205 votes separated Zamora from planning commissioner and businessman Gabriel Jimenez, who had 28%, or 2,964 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 a seat but appeared to trail Mata by 748 votes.
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.
SCNG reporters Teresa Liu, Anissa Rivera and David Wilson contributed to this article.
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