Esmeralda Soria, Mark Pazin in tight race for California Assembly. Here’s where they stand

Esmeralda Soria and Mark Pazin continue to wait to see which one will eventually win their Nov. 8 election contest to represent the 27th Assembly District.

Soria, a Democrat who currently serves on the Fresno City Council, and Republican Pazin, the former sheriff of Merced County, are separated by just over one percentage point in the combined vote tallies from Fresno, Madera and Merced counties.

As of late Friday afternoon, figures from Merced County and from the California Secretary of State’s Office reported that Soria had 27,793 votes, or 50.6%, to Pazin’s 27,168 votes or 49.4%.

That’s a margin of just 625 votes out of almost 55,000 counted so far. But the vote totals will continue to fluctuate in the coming days as vote-by-mail ballots continue to be received and processed by elections officials in the three counties. At the end of Election Night reporting late Tuesday, for example, Soria’s lead over Pazin was 287 votes, but by Friday afternoon was down to 219, before climbing to 625 as more returns came in Friday afternoon.

The Soria-Pazin race is one of several for the Assembly that are considered by state election officials to be “close contests” because the candidates are separated by less than two percentage points.

Another very tight race is in the North Valley, in the race for the 13th Congressional District. Farmer and businessman John Duarte, R-Hughson, clings to a 267-vote lead over Democrat Adam Gray of Merced, a longtime member of the state Assembly. Duarte has 38,252 votes, or 50.2%, in the state’s Friday afternoon, compared to Gray’s 37,985 votes or 49.8%.

The Duarte-Gray race was one of the most hotly-contested Congressional races in the country, with Democrats hoping to maintain a slight majority in the House of Representatives while Republicans sought to seize control of the body.

Most other legislative races affecting the central San Joaquin Valley were shaping up with wider margins and what are likely to be clearer results barring any major swings in voting trends among ballots that are still in the U.S. Post Office pipeline. Many of the incumbent officeholders representing the Valley in the state Senate, Assembly and Congress were leading in their races in Friday’s update.

Assemblymember Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, was safely ahead in his re-election bid in the 8th Assembly District. So was Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, D-Fresno, in the 31st Assembly District; and Assemblymember Devon Mathis, R-Visalia, in the 33rd Assembly District.

But in the 16th Senate District, Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, trailed her Republican challenger David Shepard. Hurtado previously represented the 14th District, but relocated into the 16th District after election boundaries were redrawn last year. Shepard led Friday with 38,893 votes to Hurtado’s 33,864, a margin of 53.5% to 46.5%.

Other sitting senators had leads that appeared to be comfortable, including Republican Shannon Grove of Bakersfield in the 12th Senate District; Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, in the 14th Senate District.

In a Senate contest between a pair of Democrats; Marie Alvarado Gill of Amador County held a lead over Stanislaus County resident Tim Roberton, 52.1% to 47.9% in the 4th Senate District.

In the Valley’s other congressional races, Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, had a 61% to 39% lead over Democratic challenger Michael J. Barkley in the 5th Congressional District; and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, was handily beating Democrat Marisa Wood in the 20th Congressional District.

In the 22nd Congressional District, Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford was leading longtime state Assembly Member Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, 54.2% to 45.8%.