With more than 333,000 ballots cast in California’s 25th congressional district, incumbent Mike Garcia (R) is clinging to a lead of 104 votes over Christy Smith (D) as of Monday, according to reports from CNN and other news outlets.
About 99% of the ballots have been counted, according to the CNN website.
Garcia, a former Raytheon employee who won a special election in May to claim the open seat created by the resignation of Rep. Katie Hill (D), has the thinnest of leads over Smith, a member of the California state Assembly. Hill, considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, resigned in November 2019 after acknowledging an affair with a former campaign staffer.
Cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory site in Ventura County is a big issue in the district, which includes northern Los Angeles County and part of Ventura County. Boeing and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration control most of the 2,700-acre Santa Susana Field Laboratory grounds, which were used for decades to research rocket-engines. The DOE leased about 450 acres and for nuclear energy-related research. The DOE and the state of California recently reached an accord on demolishing the final eight buildings controlled by the department.
If the two U.S. Senate runoff races slated for January in Georgia, which borders the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, are excluded, the California contest is the last remaining undecided Congressional race with implications for a nearby DOE nuclear cleanup site.
Ballots postmarked by the Nov. 3 election date, will be accepted through Nov. 20, according to the Los Angeles Times.
