[UPDATE: 12:55PM]
With 100 percent of precincts reporting as of 12:39 p.m., Democrat Kamala Harris’s campaign office has announced her victory over Republican Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles district attorney, in their hotly contested race for California’s Office of the Attorney General. Harris hauled in 45.9 percent to Cooley’s 45.7 percent, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office. Harris trailed Cooley until the early morning hours.
Harris has so far received 3,292,836 votes, and Cooley 3,277,998 votes.
Elections officials must count remaining provisional and absentee ballots, so results are not yet final. However, Harris’ campaign asserted that “uncounted ballots will only bolster” Harris’ lead.
A spokesman for the Cooley campaign did not immediately return a call for comment.
With nearly 7 million ballots counted, Democrat Kamala Harris has nosed out a razor-thin lead over Republican Steve Cooley in the California race for state attorney general.
About 38,000 votes separate the two candidates as thousands of late absentee and provisional ballots remain uncounted. Cooley, the Los Angeles County district attorney, jumped out to an early lead as the votes were being counted across the state Tuesday night.
Cooley prematurely declared victory and scheduled a victory press conference for Wednesday morning. But as his lead swiftly atrophied, Cooley’s campaign canceled the press conference until the race had a more definitive result.
Harris, who trailed in most public opinion polls leading up to election day, will not only prove early polls were wrong, but will also complete a Democratic sweep of statewide offices if she wins. All other statewide offices went to Democrats, including the three currently held by Republicans — governor, lieutenant governor and insurance commissioner.