It’s 2022 all over again in the 13th Congressional District.
The race between incumbent Rep. John Duarte, R-Modesto, and his Democratic challenger Adam Gray was too close to call late Tuesday night.
Although Gray had led earlier in the night by a margin of about 1,000 votes, Duarte pulled ahead later in the evening garnering 50.6% of the vote over his opponent’s 49.4% as of 1 a.m. Wednesday.
By 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Duarte’s lead over Gray increased even further, 56,785 votes (51.4%) to 53,596 votes (48.6%) respectively. Duarte now has a lead of more than 3,000 votes over his opponent, according to numbers from the Secretary of State.
That margin could change over the next few days, as elections officials count provisional ballots and vote-by-mail ballots that were postmarked by the 8 p.m. Tuesday deadline.
Tuesday night in many ways is a throwback to 2022, when the winner of the 13th Congressional District wasn’t confirmed for weeks after Election Day.
Back then, Duarte eventually edged out Gray by less than half a percentage point, or fewer than 600 votes. That decision helped Republicans squeak out a slim majority over Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Duarte said this time around, as opposed to two years ago, his campaign is more organized with more resources. “And I have been working with mayors, I’ve been working with state leaders, local leaders, community members all through the district for two years. So I’ve got more relationships out there,” he said.
As the results trickled in during an election night gathering at the Ten Pin Fun Center in Turlock, Duarte didn’t seem to mind the possibility of not knowing the outcome of the election Tuesday evening.
“You wait. You know these are very close races and the votes have to be counted. And so we’ll wait again if we have to wait again,” he said.
Gray, who attended an election night gathering at The Tarmac in Atwater, released a statement late Tuesday, saying he’s confident that he’ll win, once every vote is counted.
“Every vote matters. I’m grateful for the hardworking folks counting ballots throughout the state tonight,” Gray said.
“We feel confident about where we stand and we’ll continue to watch the results roll in. I look forward to representing my neighbors and continuing my work for the Valley.”
KVPR reporter Rachel Livinal contributed to this report