The race for the 32nd Assembly District is still too close to call, but after the polls closed Election Night and the first wave of results came in, Bakersfield City Councilman Rudy Salas said he is encouraged.
"Oh, I feel good about what we've been able to do, I’m just thankful for every volunteer that went out,” Salas said. “We won't know until all the votes are counted. I don't want to take anything for granted, but I feel good about the campaign.”
But, local business owner Pedro Rios says don't count him out.
"There was a time when we were up and then we fell back," Rios said. “And, now we're obviously 268 votes behind."
The 32nd Assembly District includes parts of Bakersfield, Delano, Wasco, Shafter, and Hanford.
Rios has a strong lead in Kings County, but Salas has a commanding lead in Kern County, which has more ballots left to count.
"We're behind, and we're going to wait until all the votes are counted. Then that's when we'll find out what the final outcome will be," Rios said.
As of Wednesday morning, Kern County had about 50,000 provisional and absentee ballots left to count.
Kings County had 1,500 provisional ballots and 20 absentee ballots to count. With such a disparity in outstanding ballots, the Salas camp feels it will hold and likely extend its lead.
