In its second day, the race for California’s 22nd Congressional District remains close
No new ground was claimed Wednesday, after early returns in California’s 22nd District House primary showed all four candidates are still in the running for the two nominations.
Nearly a third of votes had been accounted for as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a New York Times analysis.
With 9,599 ballots, incumbent Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, maintains a narrow — and inconclusive — lead he began with the night before.
In response to the returns, Valadao said Wednesday he knew the race was going to be close.
“I’m optimistic about last night’s initial results, but we still have a ways to go,” he wrote.
Valadao’s chief opponent, former Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, is in second place with 7,985 votes. Fresno Republican Chris Mathys is sitting in third with 6,298, while state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, is in fourth with 4,301 votes.
Like Valadao, Salas said he was “encouraged by the results thus far.” “We will continue to monitor the returns and believe that when all the votes are counted we will advance to November,” he wrote.
Each candidate told The Californian on Wednesday they have no intention of dropping out of the race, and will wait to see how future returns pan out. Celebrating her birthday Wednesday, Hurtado said the race reminds her of a vital lesson she learned amid her nail-biter 2022 midterm election victory.
“Every vote counts,” she wrote. And Mathys took the time to thank voters who supported his campaign.
“I will never forget your trust in me, and will be forever grateful,” Mathys wrote.
As the numbers show, the four candidates splintered the Democratic and Republican vote. This is especially troublesome for Democrats, who came into the race with a 17-point edge in voter registration.
This Central Valley seat oversees most of Kings County, parts of Tulare and Kern counties and the cities of Delano, Shafter, Porterville and parts of Bakersfield.
Lupe Villa, the registrar of voters for Kings County, confirmed he will release more results “before noon” today. Kern County Elections spokesman Adam Clark said Wednesday that the next results are expected to be released by the end of Friday. Tulare County will provide nightly updates starting tonight.
According to a New York Times analysis of ballots, Kern County has counted 21% of its ballots, whereas Tulare has tallied 47%. Kings, whose populace holds the smallest portion of the district, has processed 60%.
The top-two vote-getters, regardless of party, will advance to the general election in November. With a 5,300 ballot-spread between first and last place candidates, the seat will likely once again live up to its reputation as one of the most contested seats in the nation.