MERCED, Calif. — In a room packed with MAGA hats and bright orange Congressman John Duarte shirts, the thoughts of a 6-year-old and an 8-year-old may best represent the preliminary election results in Congressional District 13.
“I would pick Adam Gray,” Mason, 6, told KVPR at Duarte’s Tuesday night watch party at a bowling alley in Turlock. His mom had brought him to the event with his friend, Jameson, 8. Jameson stood right next to him as he said who he’d pick: Duarte.
The results for Congressional District 13, which spans Merced County and parts of three others, indeed do show another close race. As of Wednesday morning, Duarte was in the lead with 51.4% of the vote. That boasts a narrow lead of 3,189 more votes than Gray out of the more than 110,000 counted so far.
The small lead is a repeat of their race two years ago. In 2022, Duarte took 50.2% of the vote, making the race the second closest in the nation and the closest congressional race in the state.
So, Tuesday night, as candidates rolled into their prospective watch parties, they weren’t ready to call the race.
Swarmed with media minutes after arriving, Duarte said preliminary results meant “nothing.”
“These are very close races and they both have to be counted,” he said. “And so we'll wait again, if we have to wait again.”
Gray agreed.
“It's early,” Gray told KVPR. “Obviously the media and everybody else is anxious to have a lot said… There's probably going to be over 200,000 votes cast in this election.”
An estimate by the New York Times showed only about 44% of votes have been counted from Merced County, 54% in Stanislaus, 62% in Madera, and 60% in San Joaquin and Fresno counties.
Similar views, different choices
Only political attire and the location could distinguish the two election watch parties.
Duarte watched election returns at a bowling alley and swanky lounge with a balcony that overlooks the first floor of the building in Turlock. The lounge roared with conversation as national results blurted out of two giant television screens.
Katrina Thomas was there, and said she liked what Duarte has done for veterans, including her husband, who has early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Thomas said, because of Duarte and his team, she was able to transfer her husband to a residential care facility in the Valley.
“I can't say enough about him and his support and his love for veterans, and everything that he stands for,” said Thomas, 60.
Duarte has sponsored several bills in support of veteran services. The only one that passed in the House would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to send information about claims for benefits to a federally funded research and development center. The bill still has yet to be introduced to the Senate.
Days before the election, Duarte also introduced an immigration bill.
Thomas said her confidence for the congressman remained strong.
“I'm not worried,” Thomas said. “I have all the confidence in the world in him and everybody who's voted and I believe that he'll come out in the long run.”
This confidence also resonated with Merced College educator and Turlock resident Ken Taylor.
“If you ask [Duarte] to explain something, he literally will sit down and explain something to you and that’s rare,” Taylor said. “I know it's going to be a nail biter, but I think he's going to pull it out again.”
Gray’s watch party also brimmed with chit-chat, live music, and the backdrop of local election results at a bar in the small Merced County city of Atwater.
Vanessa Papineau and her husband brought their 1 month old newborn to the event.
“She was always around this type of environment and so anything like this she just sleeps so well,” Papineau said.
Papineau partly runs an organization that helps veterans and their families. In Gray, she also saw what others say they see in Duarte: a candidate who is responsive to local voters.
“I really appreciate how he sees that you need to really interact with these little organizations because at the end of the day, that speaks volumes to your community,” she said.
Papineau said the centrist views are what – she thinks – will bring people together if Gray is elected into office.
“[Gray] is a bipartisan person and I think that's really important because life is not a black and white thing,” the Gray supporter said. “There's a lot (of) gray, we're on a spectrum.”
Candidates say community got them there
Both candidates spent the days and hours leading up to the race reaching out to voters for their respective campaigns.
If the presidential race is any indication of who could win the House seat, as of Wednesday, Donald Trump has a 52.5% lead for voters in Merced County, the only county wholly represented in the district. Voters KVPR spoke to in Merced were focused on the presidential race.
Despite this, Gray told KVPR he’s had little perspective on the presidential race since deciding to run again, because – he said – he’s focused on Valley issues.
“We're running a local race and people are focused in this congressional race seat in the Valley,” Gray said. “There are other national issues and if I'm elected, we're going to weigh in on those. But most importantly I'm going to try to provide an influence in Washington.”
Voters in this swing district were consumed with mail and TV ads. Gray spent more than $4.6 million during his campaign, and Duarte spent more than $3.2 million.
But Duarte believes that more important than political advertisements is his local connection to voters. It’s what he hopes gets him through the finish line when all votes are counted.
“The only thing that really seems to cut through the fog in these campaigns is face-to-face contact with voters at the front door, encouraging them to get out and vote and vote for John Duarte,” he said.
