California’s 26th congressional district race between incumbent Democrat Julia Brownley and Republican challenger Jeff Gorell is still too close to call.
According to California’s Secretary of State’s website, Brownley leads Gorell by exactly 530 votes, or a 50.2-49.8% margin.
Gorell’s campaign told Politico on Thursday that there are “more than 50,000 absentee and provisional votes left to be counted” in the race. According to the report, Ventura County will update the vote count on Friday.
“You watch to make sure everything is done,” Chris Collier of the Ventura County Republican Party told CBS Los Angeles. “There is a verification process. We have a lot of trust in the integrity of the process, the integrity of the Clerk’s office. They do a great job, but we’re just there to observe. We want to make sure that every vote is counted.”
“If this isn’t the tightest, it is one of the tightest races in the country right now for Congress,” Collier added.
The race is much closer than most analysts predicted; in September, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee stepped up its district media buys in support of Brownley in response to the strong showing from Gorell.
Brownley was also criticized in August after one of her campaign mailers featured a “veteran” wearing the German Luftwaffe insignia.