A handful of state and national races impacting candidates aiming to represent Los Angeles County continued to be tight as Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan announced the second post-Election Night ballot count update on Thursday, Nov. 7 for Tuesday’s General Election.
Two the races figured prominently in the battle for control of the House of Representatives, which was still up in the air as of Thursday. With 218 representatives needed, Republicans had snared 210 seats while the Democrats trailed with 198.
Here’s a look at the closest races in L.A. County in the House, the California state Senate and the Assembly.
HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES
District 27: In a race with a national focus, Republican incumbent Rep. Mike Garcia hung on to his slim 50.68%-to-40.32% lead over Democratic challenger George Whitesides on Thursday. Garcia’s margin slipped a bit, but he still had a lead of 3,240 votes. A former fighter pilot who was first elected to Congress in 2020, Garcia faced fierce competition from Whitesides, a former NASA chief of staff, in this battleground district. The winner will represent parts of northern L.A. County, including the high desert communities of Lancaster, Palmdale and Santa Clarita.
District 45: Republican incumbent Rep. Michelle Steel continued to lead Democratic attorney Derek Tran in this battleground race. Steel, leading 52.1% to 47.9%, made history as one of the first Korean American women in Congress when she was elected in 2020. Tran is a political newcomer who hopes to become the first Vietnamese American to represent Orange County’s Little Saigon. District 45 represents Hawaiian Gardens and Artesia in southeastern L.A. County, as well as parts of northeastern Orange County and is one of the few majority-Asian districts in the nation.
STATE SENATE
District 23: Republican small business owner Suzette Martinez Valladares lost a little of her lead over Democratic workers’ rights attorney Kipp Mueller, but is still on top, 52.78% to 47%. Valladares served in the Assembly from 2020 to 2022 and was a founder of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Mueller ran for this office in 2020 but lost to the current officeholder, Republican Sen. Scott Wilk. Wilk is not seeking reelection this year due to term limits. This district represents an area spanning from Santa Clarita and Palmdale in northern L.A. County to Wrightwood and Hesperia in San Bernardino County.
District 35: Michelle Chambers is maintaining her slim lead over Laura Richardson in a Democrat v. Democrat battle to replace termed-out state Sen. Steven Bradford. Richardson was out in front, 51.25% to 48.75%. Richardson, of San Pedro, is a housing advocate and small business owner who previously served on the Long Beach City Council and in the state Assembly and U.S. House of Representatives. Chambers, who lives in Compton, is a community justice advocate. She previously served on the Compton City Council and was an aide to then-U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn. Senate District 35 represents residents in South L.A. County. It includes all or parts of Inglewood, Hawthorne, Compton, Carson and San Pedro.
ASSEMBLY
District 40: Incumbent Democratic Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo is clinging to her lead over Republican challenger Patrick Gipson, a former L.A. County sheriff’s deputy. As of Thursday, increased her lead by a tick, 51.22% and to Gipson’s 48.78%.Schiavo was first elected to the Assembly in 2022. Gipson, now retired from the county Sheriff’s Department, previously worked as a lifeguard for both the city and county of Los Angeles. The winner will represent Santa Clarita Valley and northwestern San Fernando Valley.
