Republican gaining ground in Sacramento-area Assembly race. Will the seat flip red?

A Republican newcomer has overtaken an incumbent Democratic Assemblyman in the race to represent the Sacramento suburbs, potentially flipping a longtime blue seat red.

GOP candidate Josh Hoover on Tuesday took a 1,568-vote lead over Democratic Assemblyman Ken Cooley in the Assembly District 7 election, according to the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters Office.

The race between Hoover and Cooley is among the closest legislative competitions in California. The state Democratic Party has spent millions of dollars to keep Cooley in the Assembly, where he has represented Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights and other communities since 2012.

But redistricting changed the political makeup of the district and added conservative-leaning Folsom to the mix, giving a Republican a better chance to capture the seat.

Even so, initial vote tallies put Cooley in first place, and early counts showed him leading by a margin of 1,000 votes.

But Hoover, who has served as chief of staff to Rocklin Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, slowly began to gain ground. He first captured the lead on Friday, when he overtook Cooley by 16 votes.

Sacramento County estimates officials have about 89,000 votes left to count. Rob Pyers of California Target Book on Twitter noted the 20,844 newly-counted votes broke 53.7% in Hoover’s favor, with about 46.3% going to Cooley.

The county will issue the next vote update after the Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 29.

This story was originally published November 22, 2022 at 4:56 PM.