Tuesday 5 p.m. Update
Gray has pulled ahead, and now lead Duarte by 105 votes. READ THE FULL STORY
Monday 6 a.m. Nov. 25 Update
Rep. John Duarte remains ahead by 204 votes over challenger Adam Gray, 102,550 votes to 102,346 respectively. There are still 2,479 unprocessed votes left to count at the Merced County Registrar of Voters Office, plus the four other counties in the 13th Congressional District (San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Fresno, and Madera).
Thursday 5 p.m. Nov. 21 Update
Rep. John Duarte’s lead over Democratic challenger Adam Gray fell to fewer than 200 votes after more Merced County ballots were tabulated and results were posted Thursday.
Gray now trails Duarte by 194 votes, for a total of 101,612 votes, compared to Duarte’s 101,806, according to the California Secretary of State.
While Gray leads the race in Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, Duarte holds a commanding lead in Madera and a strong lead in Fresno.
In a statement on Wednesday, Gray’s campaign said it’s optimistic.
“We always knew that this race would be as close as they come, and we’re expecting a photo finish this year, too,” said Ben Rodriguez, Gray’s campaign manager. “In the meantime, our campaign is encouraged by the results we’ve seen so far – with thousands of vote-by-mail, provisional, and conditional ballots left to be tallied across Stanislaus, Merced, and San Joaquin counties – and we believe that every legally cast vote must be counted. While we continue to wait, we remain confident in Adam’s path to victory.”
Wednesday 9 p.m. Nov. 20 Update
Duarte’s lead has grown slightly, following an update from the Madera County Registrar of Voters Office on Wednesday.
The latest results put Duarte ahead by 351 votes over Gray, 101,217 to 100,866 respectively, according to the Secretary of State.
Tuesday 6 p.m. Nov. 19 Update
The race for the 13th Congressional District couldn’t be any more of a toss up, literally.
As of Tuesday night, Republican Rep. John Duarte’s lead over Democratic challenger Adam Gray was cut to a mere 227 votes, according to the latest results from the California Secretary of State.
This week’s results are a huge development, as Duarte had been leading Gray by nearly 2,000 votes just Monday. Gray’s big surge came after Merced County released its vote count at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
As of Thursday, Merced County had 2,892 ballots left to process and expects to post more results on Friday.
There is another local race that’s also to the wire. The race for Livingston mayor is now separated by just 14 votes, with incumbent Mayor Joe Moran leading over Councilmember Jason Roth, 1,421 to 1,407 votes, respectively.
Among other tight local races, in Los Banos incumbent Councilmember Kenneth Lambert’s lead has jumped further ahead of challenger Tommy Leyva.
The latest results show Lambert now leads Leyva by 119 votes.
In Atwater City Council District 2, former Merced County probation chief Kalisa Rochester leads political newcomer Adrian Lopez Juarez by just 90 votes.