Razor-thin margins in the congressional race between Rep. John Duarte, left, and Adam Gray keep candidates and voters on edge as final votes are tallied. (KVPR/Rachel Livinal)
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Thursday 5 p.m. Update
Adam Gray narrows the gap in the race against Rep. John Duarte, with the Republican now leading by just 194 votes.
The latest tally shows Gray at 101,612 votes, trailing Duarte’s 101,806.
Wednesday 9 p.m. Update
Rep. John Duarte’s lead has grown slightly, following an update from the Madera County Registrar of Voters Office on Wednesday.
The latest results put the Republican ahead by 351 votes over Democratic challenger Adam Gray, 101,217 to 100,866 respectively, according to the Secretary of State.
Original Story
The race for the 13th Congressional District couldn’t be any more of a toss up, literally.
Victor A. Patton
The Merced FOCUS
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.
The latest results are a huge development, as Duarte had been leading Gray by nearly 2,000 votes just the day before. Gray’s big surge came after Merced County released its latest vote count at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Merced County still has 3,182 unprocessed votes left to count, many of them from last-minute voters who filled out conditional ballots on Election Day. The next vote update in Merced County is scheduled to happen by 5 p.m. Thursday.
There is another local race that’s also to the wire. The race for Livingston mayor is now separated by just 18 votes, with incumbent Mayor Joe Moran leading over Councilmember Jason Roth, 1,406 to 1,388 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 121 votes. Lambert was ahead by 93 votes five days ago.
In Atwater City Council District 2, former Merced County probation chief Kalisa Rochester leads political newcomer Adrian Lopez Juarez by just 87 votes.
Under California law, all counties must certify their vote count by Dec. 3. Levey expects an unofficial total vote count to be finalized before the end of November.
About the Author
Victor Patton is editor-in-chief of The Merced FOCUS.
