When Republican Andy Vidak was proclaimed the winner of a special election last week for a California state senate seat formerly held by a Democrat, it became national news.
In a state where Democrats hold all statewide offices and two-thirds majorities in both the state senate and assembly, the triumph of Vidak, a cherry farmer and former U.S. House candidate, was an unexpected boost for the Golden State GOP and its chairman Jim Brulte.
But on Friday, it became clear that Vidak is not in yet. A complete count of votes in the 16th District in the San Joaquin Valley showed that Vidak had won 49.8 per cent of the vote rather than the fifty per cent plus-one to make him the new senator.
Under the state election law, Vidak will now compete with Democratic Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez in a run-off July 23.
Vidak fell short by just 228 votes out of more than 63,000 that were cast. But now three minor candidates — two Democrats and an independent — have been eliminated the run-off result could be even closer.
The presumed Vidak win meant that Republicans would have come within one seat of dislodging the Democrats’ “supermajority” (two-thirds of the seats) in the senate. He would have replaced Democrat Michael Rubio who resigned.
Now the GOP has to wait a bit longer to see if it can come out on top again.
John Gizzi is chief political correspondent and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
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