Some Seats Could Flip in Tight California Legislature Races as Last Votes Counted

California's Capitol building in Sacramento, Calif., on the night of Jan. 9, 2024. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times

California voters seemingly flipped one state Senate seat from red to blue, and multiple assembly races are coming down to the wire with thousands of ballots yet to be counted, as of Nov. 13.

“We still have to wait and see, but it looks like we could pick up a few seats,” Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli, the first Muslim elected to the chamber, told The Epoch Times.

The Legislature in the Golden State is made up of 80 Assembly districts and 40 Senate districts, with the Democratic Party holding a supermajority in both chambers.

Before the election, Democrats controlled the Assembly 62–17, with one seat vacant after former Assemblyman Rep. Vince Fong (R-Calif.) retired in June to run for Congress after former U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) resigned.

The party presided over the Senate 31–9, after the Republican total increased by one in August when state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil switched parties due to what she described at the time as ideological differences.

Republicans are on the verge of claiming their 10th state Senate seat with a win in the race for the 37th District, encompassing parts of central Orange County—including the cities of Irvine, Orange, and Santa Ana, among others.

Incumbent Democrat Sen. Josh Newman, who previously represented the 29th district before the map was redrawn in 2021, trails Steven Choi by 2.2 points—about 9,400 votes as of the latest update.

Voters in the district chose Republican representatives for state senate in every election between 1992 and 2016, before Democrat Dave Min won in 2020.

In the assembly, two seats could flip to Republicans, though margins are tight in both races.

Republican Jeff Gonzalez, a Marine Corps veteran with a 21-year career of service to the nation, holds an advantage of nearly 2,400 votes in the state’s 36th Assembly district over school board member Democrat Joey Acuña.

The district represents Imperial County and parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California.

Riverside County election officials reported at the end of the day on Nov. 11—the most recent update—that approximately 165,000 ballots are yet to be processed. Most of the remaining ballots were mailed in, 35,000 are provisional ballots that officials need to check against records to ensure no double voting occurs, and about 17,500 are challenged for various reasons and need further review, according to the report.

Also representing parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the state’s 58th Assembly district could flip to red.

Republican psychotherapist Leticia Castillo is leading Clarissa Cervantes, sister of incumbent Democratic Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes—who retired to run for state Senate—by about 1,200 votes.

District 47 is still a tossup, and the lead has changed hands repeatedly since election day, with incumbent Republican Greg Wallis currently holding an advantage of about 1,300 votes.

The race is a rematch of the 2022 contest, which Wallis won by 85 votes.

Before that contest, voters in the district—located in the desert area near Palm Springs in parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties—had reliably elected Democrat representatives to the assembly for the prior decade.

In addition to the seats that changed hands, a new class of lawmakers will enter the Legislature after 19 assemblymembers and 11 senators either resigned or were term-limited.

Former Assemblyman Kevin McCarty resigned and ran for mayor of Sacramento. He was winning by about 7,500 votes as of Nov. 12.

After the votes are all counted, the assembly will likely have a vacancy, as Fong appeared on the ballot twice and is winning his congressional race and the election for the state’s 32nd Assembly district.

He currently leads in the state race over a fellow Republican challenger, Ken Weir, by nearly 30,000 votes.

After the election is certified for his House of Representatives seat, he can resign his state position, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is required to then call a special election next year to fill the vacancy.

All vote totals are subject to change in the coming days as more mail-in ballots are processed and other issues—including challenges to submitted ballots, related to verifying signatures and other matters, are resolved.

Nov. 12 was the last day for mail-in ballots to be received by officials—postmarked on or before Election Day. County officials have until Dec. 5 to certify elections, and the deadline for Secretary of State Shirley Weber to certify the results is Dec. 13.

Races in US Congress

Some California congressional races are also tight and awaiting results, with 6 of the 12 seats nationwide yet to be decided located in the Golden State.

Incumbent Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) conceded at 7 p.m. on Nov. 11 to his Democrat challenger, George Whitesides, after preliminary results showed the Republican trailing by slightly less than 3.5 percentage points—about 7,000 votes.

With control of the House of Representatives yet to be officially decided, some media outlets have called the race for Republicans—which would give the party a trifecta, controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House.