Three Central Valley congressional races remain tight

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) - Three close congressional races in the Central Valley could determine which party controls the House of Representatives.

Republicans had control of the House the last two years and were just three seats away from taking control once again as of Tuesday afternoon.

"Certification- the actual final results- will not be until December 3rd for this election," Fresno County clerk/ registrar of voters, James Kus stated.

One of the tightest races in the Central Valley is in Fresno County for District 21, where Democrat Jim Costa has a narrow lead of around 5,000 votes over Republican Michael Maher.

Despite that, Maher remains optimistic about his journey.

"This overwhelming support and really the call for it's time for a new generation and experienced leadership to step up, I'm just feeling very confident," Maher said.

Counties are still counting vote-by-mail ballots that were postmarked before the election but received late and people who registered on election day and filled out a provisional ballot; plus there are ballots with signatures to be "cured."

"We do send out cure notices to anyone who has forgotten to sign their vote-by-mail ballot or whose signature has been challenged," Kus explained.

Cure letters are due by Sunday, December 1st and can be returned by mail, phone, in-person or online.

In the south valley, Republican incumbent David Valadao has the biggest lead among the tight races with around 10,000 more votes than his opponent-Democrat Rudy Salas, in the race for District 22.

To the north, Republican John Duarte hopes to keep his seat in District 13, which runs from western Fresno County to San Joaquin County.

As of Tuesday, he's leading against Democrat Adam Gray by around 3,000 votes.

As the vote counting winds down, it turns out, long lines on election night didn't translate to a boost in ballots.

So far, Fresno County turnout didn't meet election expectations.

"We're going to be pushing up into the mid-60s. That's not great. We were at 75% four years ago. As the numbers work out, I'm hoping final numbers are close to 70%," Kus said.

We expect vote counts from Merced and Kings Counties in the coming days.

Those counts will help decide the races for District 13 in the north valley and District 22 in the South Valley.