Bera makes terrific comeback for victory.
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: Democrat Congressman Ami Bera has beaten Republican Doug Ose by more than 1,400 votes to retain his California District 7 seat in the US House of Representatives, according to a source in the Bera campaign.
The source at Capitol Hill told The American Bazaar that the California Board of Elections has called the race in favor of Bera, and was going to update the results on its website later today.
The Sacramento District election proved to be a see-saw one, with both candidates in the lead during phases of the election, but once Bera pulled away he did not look back.
Bera had led by 697 votes earlier in the week, which had shrunk after he had gained a 711 votes margin lead over Ose, a former congressman himself.
At the last count – which will be updated soon, according to the source – Bera had 89,477 votes (50.2%), to Ose’s 88,780 votes (49.8%).
After the initial count two weeks ago when polls closed on No. 4, Ose had a lead of more than 3,000 votes.
It’s been an agonizing election for both, as the result has been decided 15 days after polls closed.
Bera had come from behind two years ago, when he beat Republican Dan Lungren 9 days after the polls concluded, by over 9,000 votes, to become a freshman US House of Representatives member in his second attempt.
Bera is only the third Indian American politician to grace Capitol Hill, after Dilip Singh Saund and Bobby Jindal.
UPDATE: Bera led Ose by 1,432 votes, 92,394 to 90,962, out of 190,216 counted, according to the latest tally released by the county registrar’s office. The update was to include all of the ballots remaining from the 7th Congressional District. Assistant Registrar of Voters Alice Jarboe said the tally includes all ballots cast, but noted a “small number” of votes may need to be reviewed, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Though Ose, a former three-term congressman, has yet to concede the race, The Sacramento Bee determined the very small number of outstanding ballots coupled with the vote margin was insufficient for him to regain the advantage.
(This story was updated on November 19, 2014)
1 Comment
Commie Bera, lying sack of dung.