California House Race Still Uncalled as GOP’s Lead Oscillates

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California House Race Still Uncalled as GOP’s Lead Oscillates
By Rachel Kapochunas, CQ Staff


Republican House nominee Tom McClintock’s lead over Democrat Charlie Brown in California’s undecided 4th Congressional District race diminished by more than half — to 533 votes — Friday as results of absentee and provisional ballot counting were reported. It remains unclear who won the contest, as thousands of ballots are still left to count.

McClintock, a state senator, currently leads Brown, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel, by 168,868 votes to 168,335, or 50.1 to 49.9 percent. That 533-vote margin is down from the edge of 1,248 for McClintock in the previous report from election officials released Thursday.

McClintock’s campaign aides had said they expected a dropoff as votes were reported from Nevada County, where Democrats tend to run stronger than the norm for the traditionally Republican 4th District. Brown currently leads in Nevada County with 29,821 votes to 21,938 for McClintock, or 58 to 42 percent.

McClintock’s campaign on Thursday estimated that 35,000 absentee and provisional ballots remained to be counted, and neither campaign expects the count to be completed this week. McClintock and Brown are both scheduled to attend freshman orientation next week in Washington, D.C.

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