Some Seats Could Flip in Tight California Legislature Races as Last Votes Counted
"We still have to wait and see, but it looks like we could pick up a few seats," Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli, the first Muslim elected to the chamber, told The Epoch Times.
The Legislature in the Golden State is made up of 80 Assembly districts and 40 Senate districts, with the Democratic Party holding a supermajority in both chambers.
Before the election, Democrats controlled the Assembly 62–17, with one seat vacant after former Assemblyman Rep. Vince Fong (R-Calif.) retired in June to run for Congress after former U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) resigned.
Republicans are on the verge of claiming their 10th state Senate seat with a win in the race for the 37th District, encompassing parts of central Orange County—including the cities of Irvine, Orange, and Santa Ana, among others.
Voters in the district chose Republican representatives for state senate in every election between 1992 and 2016, before Democrat Dave Min won in 2020.
In the assembly, two seats could flip to Republicans, though margins are tight in both races.
The district represents Imperial County and parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California.
Also representing parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the state's 58th Assembly district could flip to red.
Republican psychotherapist Leticia Castillo is leading Clarissa Cervantes, sister of incumbent Democratic Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes—who retired to run for state Senate—by about 1,200 votes.
District 47 is still a tossup, and the lead has changed hands repeatedly since election day, with incumbent Republican Greg Wallis currently holding an advantage of about 1,300 votes.
The race is a rematch of the 2022 contest, which Wallis won by 85 votes.
Before that contest, voters in the district—located in the desert area near Palm Springs in parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties—had reliably elected Democrat representatives to the assembly for the prior decade.
In addition to the seats that changed hands, a new class of lawmakers will enter the Legislature after 19 assemblymembers and 11 senators either resigned or were term-limited.
After the votes are all counted, the assembly will likely have a vacancy, as Fong appeared on the ballot twice and is winning his congressional race and the election for the state's 32nd Assembly district.
After the election is certified for his House of Representatives seat, he can resign his state position, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is required to then call a special election next year to fill the vacancy.
All vote totals are subject to change in the coming days as more mail-in ballots are processed and other issues—including challenges to submitted ballots, related to verifying signatures and other matters, are resolved.
With control of the House of Representatives yet to be officially decided, some media outlets have called the race for Republicans—which would give the party a trifecta, controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House.
