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Democratic challenger Derek Tran expanded his lead once again Wednesday against Republican Rep. Michelle Steel to represent Orange County’s Little Saigon in one of the country’s tightest Congressional races.
The 45th Congressional District race has been in a dead heat for at least a week and was one of the only four U.S. House races in the country not yet called by the Associated Press as of Wednesday evening.
As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Tran was 397 votes ahead of Steel after taking a narrow lead in the race over the weekend, according to results posted by California’s Secretary of State.
The 45th Congressional District stretches from Los Angeles County including Cerritos, Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens and Lakewood and into Orange County including Brea, Fullerton, Yorba Linda and encompasses Little Saigon in Garden Grove and Westminster.
Although the congresswoman is leading in Orange County’s ballot counts, that lead has been slipping while Tran has been gaining traction in Los Angeles County’s updated ballot counts.
While the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters isn’t scheduled to update until Thursday, Steel continued losing ground after the Orange County Registrar of Voters updated the numbers at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Tran’s lead sat at 314 votes.
After only Orange County updated ballot counts Wednesday evening, Tran’s lead grew by 83 votes – totaling 397 votes over Steel.
Steel — a former Orange County supervisor — has held the seat since 2020.
Tran, a consumer rights attorney, is a political newcomer.
His lead comes after Democrat state Senator Dave Min won the hotly contested race for the neighboring 47th Congressional District against Republican Scott Baugh.
[Read: Dave Min Wins OC’s Coastal Congressional Seat]
With Min and Tran leading as of Wednesday night, Democrats are poised to hang onto a majority of Orange County’s Congressional seats, which they’ve held since 2018 when the county’s entire congressional delegation was swept by Democrats until Republicans reclaimed two seats in 2020.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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