Congrats to my friend, Craig Huey, in his run-off finish in yesterday’s California Special Congressional election (CD-36).

Self-funding Republican Craig Huey appears to have pulled off a surprising upset Tuesday night, leapfrogging Democrat Debra Bowen to advance to a July 12 runoff in the special election to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.). He’ll face Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who finished first in the 16-candidate field.

With all precincts reporting, Huey leads Bowen, the California secretary of state, by just 206 votes – but it’s a slim margin that will likely hang in uncertainty until more than 9,000 absentee ballots are counted. The AP has only called the race for Hahn, and not for Huey.

Hahn led all candidates with 24.7 percent of the vote, and she was expected to face Bowen in the July runoff in the first test of the state’s first all-party primary, which entailed rules that could have allowed for two members of the same party in the multi-candidate field to advance.

However, it was Huey, a wealthy businessman who put a half-million of his own money into his campaign and spent more than $300,000 on radio and TV ads, who pulled the upset. Neither Bowen nor Hahn had been up on television.

Currently, Huey leads all Republicans with 21.9 percent, or 11,648 votes. Bowen trails with 21.5 percent, or 11,442 votes.

According to a late night tweet from Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan, there are an estimated 9,811 ballots still to be counted, including 8,416 from people who voted by mail, 1,269 provisional ballots and 126 damaged ballots.

I am fairly certain that Huey’s lead will hold up as the remaining ballots will trend even more Republican.

And, I am not surprised as much as the pundits because Craig has REALLY worked the social media, is from the Congressional District (we grew up together in El Segundo), and knows how to run a campaign.

Now, the general election race will be tough because of the overwhelming Democratic registration in this gerrymandered district and the Democrats with their union minions will go all out against Craig.

If he moves on, Huey will face a stiff challenge against in the runoff – all Democratic candidates received a total of 56 percent of the vote. The district gave 64 percent of the vote for President Obama in 2008.

But, Craig has established roots in the district and California’s economy, particularly this portion of Los Angeles County is in dire straights with high unemployment. Huey has established himself as a viable and CONSERVATIVE Congressional candidate.

Whether he wins or loses in July, reapportionment redistricting is on the table with new California Congressional Districts to be announced in June. Huey may very well be a Republican force in this district for some time to come.

Stay tuned…..

Buy the way, Huey’s Facebook is here and can be followed on Twitter @CraigHuey.

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