In a nail-biter, Democrat Katie Porter takes lead over Republican Mimi Walters in Southern California House race


After holding the lead for a week, Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Calif.) is now trailing her Democratic challenger in Southern California's 45th Congressional District by 261 votes.
Orange County released its latest ballot count on Tuesday evening. Walters was ahead of Democratic law professor Katie Porter by 3 percent on Election Day last Tuesday, but by Monday, her lead had dropped to 1,000. The Los Angeles Times says that typically in California, the last ballots counted are provisional or mailed late, and those usually favor Democrats.
In races that have been called, Democrats won three of 14 seats held by Republicans in California.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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