Acosta passes Smith early on
Assemblyman Dante Acosta, R-Santa Clarita, and his Democratic challenger Christy Smith faced off Tuesday night for a second round in the Nov. 6 state midterms.
As of 9:30 p.m, Acosta had a slight lead over Smith. The incumbent was at 51.4 percent and Smith at 48.6 percent, with 18.3 percent of the 38th Assembly District votes reported.
Smith, a Newhall
School District board member, spent election night at The Canyon Santa Clarita with many of the other local Democratic candidates.
Acosta was at Kelly’s
Wedding Garden and
Banquet Facility, where
Santa Clarita Valley Republicans were gathered.
“We’ve had a phenomenal weekend knocking tens of thousands of doors, and making tens of thousands of phone calls,”
Smith said. “We’re optimistic, but on my part I’m proud of the campaign. The energy has been incredible and I’m confident we delivered our message. We
connected with voters. And we’re so very grateful for all the help.”
“We’re happy to be up at this point,” Acosta said. “We talked to thousands of people who felt very positively about the campaign, and we are confident voters will send us back to Sacramento for two more years by the end of the night.”
The pair last faced off in 2016, when Acosta garnered 53.1 percent of the vote.
The Santa Clarita Valley has a close-to-even split between Democratic and Republican voters leading up to midterm elections as of Sept. 7, according to state records.
In the L.A. County portion of the 38th Assembly District, there were 76,993 registered Democrats and 69,918 registered Republicans as of Oct. 22, according to Secretary of State records.