Carl DeMaio Loses Lead to Scott Peters in CA-52

SAN DIEGO, California — Democrat incumbent Congressman Scott Peters overtakes Carl DeMaio lead in California’s 52nd Congressional District seat upset by a margin of 861 votes in a Thursday afternoon update, a change from DeMaio’s Wednesday morning lead of 752 votes.

Late Thursday, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters updated results with partial counts from the approximately 46,000 mail and provisional ballots received and remaining to be counted in the 52nd district. Votes will continue to be counted through Friday and the following Monday.

Both candidates have been confident in victory as the final votes are counted. “I believe that when all votes are counted, that we will prevail,” DeMaio said Wednesday morning when he announced plans to attend the coming week’s congressional orientation. 

KPBS reporter Claire Trageser tweeted Thursday afternoon that Peters’ campaign manager, MaryAnne Pintar, “says they expect DeMaio to keep the lead in today’s ?#ca52 results bc today’s count is mail in ballots that Pintar says trend GOP,” but that she “said they’ve spent the day crunching numbers and predicts they’ll “win by a squeaker” when all votes have been counted.

San Diego County Registrar of Voters’ Michael Vu told KPBS on Wednesday that representatives from both the Peters and DeMaio campaigns are expected to be present for the duration of counting. Even if results remain tight, Vu said, there are no automatic recounts within the state. However, once votes are certified by the registrar’s office, either campaign may call for a recount within five days. The deadline for certification is December 2.

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