Conservative businessman Craig Huey

Democrat California Secretary of State Debra Bowen conceded this afternoon to my long time conservative friend Craig Huey.

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen conceded Thursday in the special election race for a vacant Southern California congressional seat, handing a surprising second-place finish to little-known Republican Craig Huey.

Huey, a wealthy advertising executive who spent $500,000 out of his own pocket, will face Democratic Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn in a July 12 runoff.

Maybe Craig was little known in Sacramento or D.C. but he has been a strong conservative voice for decades in Los Angeles County, having grown up in El Segundo. He resides in Rolling Hills and his marketing/advertising business is in Torrance.

An early adopter of conservative social media, Craig used it to power himself into a second place finish against a long-term POL in Debra Bowen.

Bowen, also a Democrat, finished about 200 votes behind Huey in Tuesday’s primary but was waiting on around 10,000 absentee and provisional ballots that had yet to be counted. On Thursday afternoon, as election officials sorted through the remaining votes, Huey’s lead grew to 750 ballots.

“Since Tuesday’s election, my staff, legal advisers and election experts participated in the ballot review process to ensure a full and fair vote count was conducted. It is clear now that I will not be in the runoff and I congratulate Janice Hahn and Craig Huey,” Bowen said in a statement. A recount would have put Bowen, the state’s top election official, in an awkward predicament.

Here are the election results as of late this afternoon:

So, on to the general election on July 12th!

As I said before, this Congressional District will be redrawen in June of this year by the California Redistricting Commission because of the census. So, win or lose in July, Huey will be a force in South Bay politics for a long time to come.

Interesting and something that Huey WILL exploit is that Debra Bowen did NOT endorse fellow Democrat LA Councilwoman Janice Hahn in the July run-off election.

Bowen did not endorse Hahn in her Thursday evening concession, citing a “strict policy of not endorsing candidates to avoid even a perception of conflict.”

“Voters in the Congressional District 36 have a very important decision to make on July 12, and I encourage citizens to have their voices heard by voting in the runoff,” she said.

And the game is on.

But Huey will face an uphill task in a Democratic-leaning district that heavily favored Barack Obama in the last presidential election.

Democrats already appeared confident. Just minutes after Bowen’s concession, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that House Democrats “look forward to welcoming Councilwoman Hahn to Congress.”

“California’s 36th District is staunchly Democratic. President Obama, Governor Brown, Senators Boxer and Feinstein, and Congresswoman Harman each carried this district by significant margins,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel said in a statement. “We are confident that Janice Hahn will succeed Congresswoman Harman and in Janice California’s 36th District will have an outstanding advocate in Congress.”

Craig will have have the support of the national conservative movement and the entire Republican Congressional Delegation. Moreover, he will be able to conjur up California and the National Tea Party organizations.

Watch for a brutal and hard fought campaign.