The incredibly slow pace of final congressional election results in California appears to be coming to an end. Last week, incumbent Rep. Mike Garcia’s win in northern Los Angeles County notched a victory that pushed the Republicans into the majority for the next Congress. By a 53% to 47% margin, the former Navy fighter pilot once again held off Democrat Christy Smith in a district where Democrats held a 12 point voter registration advantage. Earlier this week, the Associated Press called Republican U.S. Rep. David Valadao the winner in a closely fought contest against Democrat Rudy Salas to represent a Central Valley district. With 98% of the ballots counted Monday night, Valadao, who serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, had 52% of the votes to 48% for Salas. On Tuesday, Republican Assemblymember Kevin Kiley defeated Democrat Kermit Jones to win the new 3rd Congressional District seat, according to an Associated Press projection. With 84% of the vote counted as of Tuesday afternoon, Kiley had about 53% to Jones’ 47%. The one California congressional race yet to be called is between Republican farmer John Duarte and Democratic Assemblymember Adam Gray. As of Tuesday night, Duarte led in the newly created 13th District by less than 600 votes. A win for either candidate will determine how much of a margin either party will have in the U.S. House of Representatives. Nationwide, there are still three uncalled races with Republicans holding a 220 seat majority compared to 212 seats for Democrats as of Tuesday.
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