Rep. Mike Levin held onto a narrow lead over Republican challenger Brian Maryott in the race for California’s 49th District on Wednesday.

Nationally, Democrats have largely prevented Republicans from running away with the midterm elections. But the race for CA-49 in Southern California is still a tight contest. Levin, the Democratic incumbent, ended Tuesday with a slight advantage over Maryott, and that slim lead continued Wednesday evening after additional returns were reported.

Only the first few rounds of election returns have been released in both Orange and San Diego counties. Check the Register’s website – at www.ocregister.com – for more up-to-date information as more ballots are counted.

Election Results

The district spans both Orange and San Diego counties, including Laguna Niguel, Dana Point and San Clemente before sweeping south to pick up Oceanside, Vista, Encinitas and Del Mar.

An attorney who attended Duke University School of Law, Levin serves as the vice chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Throughout his career, Levin has focused on environmental issues.

“While there is still a long way to go and thousands of ballots left to count, thanks to the work we put in and based on everything we know about the outstanding vote, we are confident that when all is said and done, we will prevail,” Levin said in a message to the Register Tuesday evening.

His campaign said it didn’t have further comment at this time.

Maryott is a certified financial planner who lives in San Juan Capistrano.

Megan House, a spokeswoman for Maryott, said the campaign was optimistic Tuesday evening.

“It may take a few days, but when the dust settles, we expect that the voters of CA-49 will send a financial planner to Congress,” she said.

While the CA-49 contest is still a very closely watched race, nationally a predicted “red wave” – meaning large Republican success throughout the midterm elections – was largely avoided.

From the White House Wednesday, President Joe Biden said Democrats had a “strong night.”

“While the press and the pundits were predicting a giant red wave, it didn’t happen,” Biden said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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