More than two weeks after Election Day, the race between Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) and Democratic challenger Derek Tran remains too close to call as California continues to count its ballots.
The race for California’s 45th District, which comprises parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties, has remained the closest in the country for several days now.
As of Thursday morning, Tran was ahead of Steele by just 314 votes. In the initial Election Day count, Steel took a sizable lead of thousands of votes, but as more ballots were counted, her lead narrowed until the race flipped in Tran’s favor. Last week, Steel led by 58 votes, until Tran pulled 36 votes ahead of her over the weekend.
None of this is fraudulent, however, as California has a notably slower rate of counting than other states due to its long ballot verification process and the fact many of its residents utilize…
