Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley Wins Re-Election

SACRAMENTO (AP) — Democratic freshman Julia Brownley has survived her first re-election bid to Congress, edging out Republican Jeff Gorell in one of the nation's closest congressional races.

The two candidates competed for a Democratic-leaning district in Ventura County that is home to two naval bases and an Air National Guard base, making the military the largest employer in the county and veterans issues a major emphasis of political campaigns.

Brownley was ahead by about 2,000 votes out of more than 157,000 cast. She claimed victory Wednesday.

"I will continue to stand up for women and families, fight for our veterans, and work to bring jobs and economic security to Ventura County," Brownley said in a statement released by her campaign.

But Gorell did not concede the race Wednesday, saying in a post on his Facebook account that he would await the release of more vote tallies expected Friday.

"While the trend is not promising, we will not be making any decisions as to the outcome of this race until the final absentee ballots are counted," he said in the post.

Gorell served two tours in Afghanistan. He also had ties to the district as a former criminal prosecutor and as a member of the state Legislature.

Brownley, a member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, had a significant financial edge early on, but Republican-aligned groups entered the race late and spent heavily against her, indicating that polls were signaling the race was a toss-up. In all, outside groups spent nearly $3.8 million to help sway the race's outcome.

Two other congressional races featuring incumbent Democrats remained too close to call Wednesday. In the Sacramento area, Democratic Rep. Ami Bera had a slim lead over his Republican challenger Doug Ose, a former congressman. In the Central Valley, five-term congressman Jim Costa was trailing Republican Johnny Tacherra in a race that analysts had not expected to be close.

Meanwhile, the Assembly seat that Gorell gave up to run for Congress gave Democrats a rare pickup in the state Legislature this year, as Thousand Oaks City Councilwoman Jacqui Irwin defeated GOP challenger Rob McCoy.

Irwin was leading McCoy by more than 3,500 votes out of about 101,000 cast in the 44th Assembly District seat in Ventura County. The competitive district has been shifting Democratic because of a growing concentration of Latino voters in Oxnard.

Three other Democratic Assembly members remained locked in too-close-to-call races in the Los Angeles area.

Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra was trailing a fellow Democrat, Patty Lopez, in San Fernando; Assemblyman Ian Calderon had a lead over Republican Rita Topalian in Whittier, and in Torrance, Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi was trailing Republican challenger David Hadley.

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