Republican Jeff Denham, a plastics container manufacturer from
Salinas, is proclaiming victory in the 12th Senate District
race.
Republican Jeff Denham, a plastics container manufacturer from Salinas, is proclaiming victory in the 12th Senate District race.
However, Rusty Areias has said the race was still too close to call and there were still too many uncounted and provisional ballots remaining in the district that spans five counties for either candidate to declare victory.
Denham made the announcement on Wednesday after talking with Republican Party leaders.
As of this morning, Denham’s lead climbed to 1,825 votes, garnering 71,365 votes to Areias’ 69,540. Denham holds 48.4 percent of the vote while Areias has received 47.1 percent of the vote.
“We feel we have won this election,” Phil Paule, a Denham spokesman told a valley newspaper.
However, Areias has yet to concede and was still confident.
“We remain optimistic that the ultimate outcome will be in our favor,” said Bob Sanders, an Areias spokesman. “There are still several thousand absentee ballots to be … and provisionals still in Stanislaus.”
The race for the new 12th Senate District has been the most expensive legislative battle in state history, and if Denham wins it would give the Republicans 15 of the Senate’s 40 seats. They now hold 14.
Since Nov. 5, both candidates have flip-flopped leads, with Areias grabbing the early lead and Denham slowly narrowing the gap until taking the lead.
Areias is a former assemblyman and the state parks commissioner. In 1996, he lost a close Senate race to Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz.
In San Benito County, Areias won the area with 52.3 percent of the vote, 5,225, to Denham’s 42.7 percent, or 4,263 votes. Areias also captured Monterey County with 59.9 percent of the vote to Denham’s 35.9 percent.
However, it was in the three valley counties where Denham appears to have won the race.
In Merced County, Denham captured 21,239 votes, or 52.5 percent of the vote, to Areias’ 43.5 percent or 17,644 votes.
In Stanislaus County, Denham won with 52.9 percent, 30,112 votes, to Areias’ 42.2 percent or 24,087 votes.
And in Madera County, Denham had 52.3 percent of the votes, 4,397 votes, to Areias’ 43.4 percent, or 3,642 votes.
Free Lance wire services contributed to this report.
