Voters are going to the polls, or dropping off their ballots, across the 25th Congressional District Tuesday for a special election amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, and Republican candidate and Navy veteran Mike Garcia are set to face off once again Tuesday for the remaining duration of former Rep. Katie Hill’s seat in Congress.
UPDATE: 6:30 a.m. Wednesday — No further updates have been released by Los Angeles County as of 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Out of the 352,257 residents in L.A. County registered to vote, 107,819 have had their votes counted as of Wednesday morning, according to officials with the county registrar.
UPDATE: 12:45 a.m. Wednesday — Los Angeles County Officials have released the third update for in-person voting centers, which shows Garcia to continue to gradually grow his lead.
District Total (Including Ventura County)
Mike Garcia – R – 80,337 votes – 56.05 percent
Christy Smith – D – 62,998 votes – 43.95 percent
UPDATE: 11 p.m. Tuesday — The second update for in-person voting centers has been released by officials with Los Angeles County, and Garcia has slightly widened his lead.
District Total (Including Ventura County)
Mike Garcia – R – 79,543 votes – 56.02 percent
Christy Smith – D – 62,456 votes – 43.98 percent
UPDATE: 8:45 p.m. Tuesday — Los Angeles County has released the first update for in-person voting centers, with an additional 1,617 ballots.
District Total (Including Ventura County)
Mike Garcia – R – 78,701 votes – 55.91 percent
Christy Smith – D – 62,054 votes – 44.09 percent
UPDATE: 8:15 p.m. Tuesday — With 100 percent of vote by mail ballots from Los Angeles County in, Garcia maintains his lead over Smith.
Los Angeles County Mail-In Ballots
Mike Garcia – R – 56,909 votes – 54.98 percent
Christy Smith – D – 46,604 votes – 45.02 percent
District Total (Including Ventura County)
Mike Garcia – R – 77,459 votes – 55.67 percent
Christy Smith – D – 61,679 votes – 44.33 percent
None of the vote center ballots had been counted as of 8:20 p.m. Tuesday.
UPDATE: 8:05 p.m. Tuesday — With all precincts reporting in Ventura County, Mike Garcia is taking an early lead, with no updates from Los Angeles County.
Mike Garcia – R – 20,550 votes – 57.68 percent
Christy Smith – D – 15,075 votes – 42.32 percent
In Ventura County, a total of 35,655 residents voted in the special election, with a turnout of registered voters of about 49.24 percent. This is larger than most turnout numbers in California, according to Secretary of State records.
Smith and Garcia were the top two vote earners in the primary back in March, for both the special election and the next full term for 25th District from 2021-2023.
In the crowded “jungle primary” race for the special election, Smith earned 36.2 percent of the vote, with Garcia garnering 25.4 percent, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office.
12 candidates split the primary vote, with the total of votes between Democrat and Republican candidates almost even — about 51 percent to 49 percent.
See Related: 25th Congressional District Special Election: The Final Hours Before Election Day
The winner of the May 12 runoff is set to take over the remainder of Hill’s seat, due to the former Congresswoman resigning amid allegations of misconduct with campaign staffers and an ethics investigation.
After the special election, the candidates are set to face-off one final time in November for the next term for CA-25.
This is the first election in California amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to social distancing requirements, California Governor Gavin Newsom called for all registered voters in CA-25 to receive mail-in ballots.
In the district, each of the 425,000 registered voters were sent a ballot with return postage paid. CA-25 residents are able to vote-by-mail or in-person at voting centers across the district.
To find an in-person polling location visit here or a secured ballot drop-off site here. Voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to turn in ballots.
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This is not a political statement. It’s about government honesty and I have been trying to get an honest answer. All of the materials provided says this is an “all mail in election”, Why are some people being allowed to go to polling places? It makes me distrust our government and the sanctity of our voting system.
If the democratic candidate wins, then this is a bogus election. Democrats cannot be trusted.
But if the Republican candidate wins, it isn’t?
That’s not what my voter packet says. It gives three options. Mail in, drop off, or vote in person.
I think “all mail in election” just means everyone will get a ballot in the mail (with free postage) if they choose to mail it, but they can also go to a polling place if they prefer.
Wow! Free postage? My mail-in (absentee) ballots are never free postage. 🙁
This was an all vote by mail only until our governor newsome saw that Mike Garcia had a big lead in the early mail in votes. At his request, voting booths were set up in the most democratic areas of this district. You cannot trust democrats, they will lie and cheat and do anything to win and pad their own pockets.
This is 100% true.
It is a felony to vote twice in the same election. Why would anyone risk the jail time? What’s their incentive?
The problem is, there is a greater incentive to “cheat the system” than there is to act legally since no punishment is ever given to the cheaters. Until there is a possibility that scores of people may spend a year or two in jail, there will continue to be those who cast multiple ballots.
I am tired of double standards of democrats. It is time to take care of our lives and defend our rights.
I’m sick of my home State of CA. Everything costs so much. We haven’t saved $ in years (and no, I do not get my nails done or buy new cars or even eat out for that matter).
As soon as my husband retires (IF he can retire now with this virus), we are getting the hell out of corrupt CA..
The Left has destroyed this State. The conservative and/or Republican vote here in CA has not counted in decades.
Mike Garcia is going to win despite all of the democrat shenanigans. Mike is a great person and I believe he will serve our district well. He will be taking a big pay cut for taking this job but he is doing this for us, his family and our country. We should be thankful for his dedication, whichever side of the isle you’re on, he wants the best for us.
Victory!!!!!! We got our little red part of California back.
http://2vmhfw1isbe32j3tgn3epw3x-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/191213-Michael-Garcia-Online-Backgrounder.pdf This is the person you are so happy to be our representative. He will sit in the chair like Steve Knight and do nothing
And Christy is great? I’ve been watching her ads. They are all hate filled. Just because she was a CA do-nothing-for-the-people congresswoman at the state level, what makes you think she will do something now on the federal level?
The hate fill is done by the republicans in this one
From what I can discern the latest numbers show Mike Garcia leading by over 17,000 votes. Reports indicate there are 30,000 mail-in ballots yet to be counted. In order to overcome his lead, Smith would need to garner appx. 24,000 of those mail-in ballots or 80%. She is currently receiving 44%. If Christy Smith is a quality individual she would do the right thing and concede to Mike Garcia. Since she is saying she won’t concede that tells you all you need to know about her character. She is placing herself ahead of the people of the 25th district and that is always unacceptable. Katie Hill and her accomplices stole this seat in 2018 and the strong vote in this election are correcting that injustice.
Such a true statement. When Hill won they were canvassing my neighborhood for ballot harvesting. Same people came by several times. It was harassing. I will be relieved when this is over. We need to get rid of this illegal practice. My registration was even changed without my knowledge.
Crazy crazy crazy. We have a Republican president, for goodness sake and life is simply wonderful…………