REGION — Early unofficial Election Day results show Democrat Darshana Patel with an early lead over Republican Kristie Bruce-Lane in the competitive race to represent California’s 76th Assembly District, with approximately 590,000 votes remaining to be counted in San Diego County.
As of Wednesday morning, Patel held a lead of nearly five percentage points over Bruce-Lane with 52.31% of the vote versus Bruce-Lane’s 47.69%. With current Assemblymember Brian Mainschein leaving the seat after six terms, whoever takes it will be the first new person to represent the battleground district in 12 years.
Patel said she is proud of her campaign and grateful to all the voters that made their voices heard.
Back in 2022, Bruce-Lane lost her former bid for the Assembly seat by around three percentage points to Maienschein, who is currently trailing opponent Heather Ferbert in the race for San Diego City Attorney.
The 76th Assembly district represents San Marcos and Escondido in the north and Rancho Santa Fe, Carmel Valley, Carmel Mountain Ranch and Rancho Bernardo in the south.
Patel is a research scientist and Poway Unified School District board member, and Bruce-Lane is the founder of the Thumbprint Project Foundation and a former Olivenhain Municipal Water District board member.
74th Assembly race
Early unofficial returns for the 74th Assembly race have incumbent Republican Laurie Davies holding a five percentage point lead over Democratic challenger and San Clemente City Councilmember Chris Duncan as the candidates face off for the second time after a showdown in 2022.
According to the California Secretary of State, Davies, elected to the Assembly in 2020, received 52.6% of the vote compared to Duncan’s 47.4%.
Duncan led in votes from the district’s San Diego County areas, including Oceanside, Vista, and Fallbrook, with 53.54% compared to 46.46% for Davies, while the reverse was true among red-leaning Orange County voters in San Clemente, Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point, who favored Davies at 58.30%.
As of Wednesday, Duncan said it’s too early to call the race, and thanked all of his supporters.
“There remain tens of thousands of votes still to be counted in this hard-fought race and it’s clear the final result will be very close and is currently too early to call,” Duncan’s campaign said. “My commitment to South Orange and North San Diego Counties has never been stronger and I am so deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from all the volunteers, donors, supporters and voters across our beautiful communities.”
This is Duncan’s fourth time running for the state assembly.
75th Assembly race
Carl DeMaio holds a strong lead in the 75th Assembly District with 60% compared to opponent Andrew Hayes’ 40% and appears to be the next representative for the district representing Poway and the majority of inland and east San Diego County.
A former San Diego City council member and founder of Reform California, DeMaio secured the decisive lead despite losing the support of the state and county Republican party, who both endorsed Hayes.
In a statement on Wednesday morning, DeMaio said he is focused on bringing back the “ voice of the forgotten Californian.”
“Thank you for your faith and your trust. I look forward to delivering on the mandate you are giving me to shake up our state’s broken political system and demand action to fix the problems that are causing so many to flee California,” DeMaio said.
Hayes, a business owner and president of the Lakeside Union School District Board of Trustees, has not yet shared a public statement about the results.
Current 75th Assemblymember Marie Waldron has termed out after 12 years in the state legislature.
Approximately 590,000 votes remain to be counted in San Diego County, with the next round of updated results expected by 6 p.m. on Thursday. County results can be found at sdvote.com and state results at electionresults.sos.ca.gov.
San Diego County election results will be certified by Dec. 5, while state-level results will be certified Dec. 13.
This story was updated to add a statement by Darshana Patel.
This story was updated to add a statement by Chris Duncan.
