GOP’s Strickland Claims Victory in Assembly Race
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THOUSAND OAKS — After a tense week of waiting for absentee votes to be counted, Republican Tony Strickland claimed victory Monday in the 37th Assembly District race, pulling away from Democrat Roz McGrath by nearly 1,600 votes.
“I was nervous,” said Strickland, 28, a self-described “pure conservative” who bucked the Democratic tide statewide to save a traditional Republican seat for his beleaguered party. “But we got across the finish line.”
In the closest local race in years, Strickland led by only 346 of 83,243 votes before absentee ballots were tallied. But after 16,000 late ballots were counted Monday, his lead grew to more than 1,200.
The difference came in reliable Republican strongholds of Thousand Oaks, Camarillo and Moorpark.
About 2,500 more ballots are expected to be counted today, but McGrath, a 51-year-old kindergarten teacher, will be unable to make up the difference, according to elections officials.
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