Tony Strickland Takes 840 Vote Lead in California State Senate Race

The lead comes from Ventura County mail-in ballots which were received after the time to process them before election day.

Republican Tony Strickland took an 840-vote lead over Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson Thursday in the oh-so-close balloting in the 19th Senate District, the first day of what could be a monthlong process to determine the winner of the most expensive political contest in Ventura County history.

Strickland emerged with a lead after Ventura County election officials counted 11,294 mail-in-ballots that hadn’t been received in time to process before Election Day. His 948-vote net gain allowed him to leapfrog ahead of Jackson, who led by 108 votes after election night.

The votes counted Thursday were exceptionally rich for Strickland. He was the choice on 58.6 percent of the new ballots counted, well above the percentage by which he carried Ventura County and also above the percentage he received of the mail-in ballots from the county that were tabulated on Election Day.

The lead may be short-lived since Santa Barbara County will release its mail-in ballots today. On the other hand, Strickland supporting Los Angeles County is liable to add to Strickland’s total.

Next, will be the fight for the provisional ballots and a possible state mandated audit.

Flap bets Strickland will win this race eventually but hang on because the lead may change a couple more times over the next few weeks.