Derek Tran maintained his lead over Rep. Michelle Steel in the highly competitive race for California’s 45th congressional district on Monday, still one of the closest House contests in the nation.
Tran, a Democrat and Orange-based attorney, increased his advantage to 581 votes, adding another 36 votes to his lead from Saturday’s tally. Monday’s total only included an update from Orange County’s registrar of voters; Los Angeles County’s election officials will resume providing vote updates on Tuesday.
The contest remains one of the few House races that The Associated Press has not yet called. However, Tran declared victory on Monday evening in a news release.
“This victory is a testament to the spirit and resilience of our community. As the son of Vietnamese refugees, I understand firsthand the journey and sacrifices many families in our district have made for a better life,” he said.
If elected, Tran would become the first Vietnamese American to represent the country’s largest Vietnamese community in Congress.
Steel has not conceded in the race as of Monday evening. Her campaign spokesperson, Lance Trover, said earlier Monday (before Tran’s statement) that Steel has no new comments regarding the election results.
Both candidates have asked donors for money to finance a possible recount.
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Why is the race for California’s 45th congressional district so close?
And as votes are still being counted, both campaigns are also working to ensure that voters with flagged ballots — due to issues like missing signatures or incorrect information — have their votes counted through a process known as “ballot curing.” The deadline for voters to fix issues with ballots (votes cannot be changed during this process) is Dec. 1.
But the tight race, as California enters its fourth week of counting ballots, has led to growing frustration, and in some cases, sparked allegations of election fraud.
On Monday, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley criticized California’s ballot-counting process on social media, calling it “absurd” that the state accepts mail-in ballots up to seven days after Election Day and takes nearly a month to complete the count.
“The RNC has filed lawsuits to stop this and will continue to fight aggressively to force all states to stop accepting ballots after Election Day,” he said. “It is clear that we need real election reforms to protect the vote in California.”
Elon Musk, whose super PAC pumped millions of dollars to help down ballot Republicans, including Steel, replied to a post on X (formerly Twitter) over the weekend that alleged without evidence that there was election fraud in the race.
“Without voter ID, fraud is certain,” Musk said. While California does not require ID to vote, residents must verify their identity when they register to vote.
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who oversees California’s elections, said the state’s election process is designed with a “core commitment to recognizing and accurately counting each and every eligible vote.”
“This approach involves a series of rigorous checks and safeguards, including signature verification, machine audits and manual recounts …. these measures assure that all votes, whether they are cast in-person, cast by mail, or by same-day registration, are accurately represented in our final count,” she said.
County elections officials will continue tabulating votes in the coming days and have until Dec. 3 to certify the election results.