Wallis wins final state Legislature seat
SACRAMENTO — The Democratic candidate in one of the tightest races in California conceded on Monday, allowing the final member of the state Legislature to be sworn in.
Palm Springs Mayor Christy Holstege conceded Monday to Republican legislative staffer Greg Wallis in Assembly District 47. Wallis on Monday became the final member of the 2023-24 Legislature to be sworn in.
That race was the secondclosest legislative contest this year, with Wallis winning just 85 more votes than Holstege out of nearly 170,000 votes cast, according to vote totals reported to the California secretary of state as of Monday.
The margin was even tighter in Senate District 16, where Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger (Fresno County), edged out Republican farmer David Shepard by just 20 votes.
Hurtado was sworn in for her second term in the Legislature on Saturday. As of Saturday, Shepard had not yet conceded the race, noting in a statement that the vote total may still shift and that his team was assessing whether to call for a recount.
Vote totals indeed may change slightly by the time votes are certified, including to account for so-called “cured” ballots. That occurs when a county is not able to verify that the signature on a mail ballot matches a voter’s signature on their voter registration. Voters have an opportunity to correct the mistake and ensure their vote is counted. Final vote totals are scheduled to be certified at the end of the week.
Republican Senate leaders had argued Friday that Hurtado should not be sworn in because of the close vote tallies and the potential for them to change as vote totals are finalized.
The razor-thin margin in the Hurtado-Shepard race makes it the closest state Senate race in more than a century, said Alex Vassar, a historian for the California State Library. The WallisHolstege race is the closest Assembly race since 1980.
The Assembly race that previously held the title is also the last state legislative race that resulted in a new lawmaker being seated and then removed from office after vote totals shifted, Vassar said. That year, Republican Adrian Fondse was sworn in at the start of the Legislative session in December. But within a month, his opponent, Democrat Patrick Johnston, overtook his lead in the vote count. Johnston was sworn in when the Legislature reconvened in January.
During his short time in office, Fondse was one of the Republicans who cast a vote for legendary San Francisco politician Willie Brown, a Democrat, to be Assembly speaker, Vassar said.
The other 118 state lawmakers were sworn in earlier this month. The other two closest legislative races this year were in Assembly District 7, where Republican Josh Hoover edged out incumbent Ken Cooley, DRancho Cordova, by more than 1,300 votes and Assembly District 40, where Democrat Pilar Shiavo ousted incumbent Suzette Martinez Valladares, RNewhall, by about 500 votes.
Although Holstege lost her race, the new legislative class still has the most women lawmakers ever with 50. Holstege would have been the first openly bisexual woman elected to the state Legislature but even without her, the state’s LGBTQ caucus will still be the largest ever.
Republicans, meanwhile, lost significant ground. The Senate has just eight Republican members, the fewest since 1883, Vassar said. The Assembly has 18 Republicans, the fewest since 1876.
California elections can take weeks to decide in part because the state allows mail ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days. The increase in mail voting in California has also slowed vote counting because mail ballots undergo additional security checks. Unlike votes cast in person, election officials must verify that voters signed their ballot envelope and that the signature matches the one on their driver’s license before their votes are counted.