‘Life goes on.’ Republican Rep. John Duarte accepts losing his California seat to Adam Gray
John Duarte was sounding mellow Wednesday, the day he lost his House seat.
“I accept the results,” he told The Bee. There was no anger, no regret in his voice.
Unofficial results show Duarte, 58, a freshman Republican, lost the 13th congressional district seat to former Assemblymember Adam Gray, D-Merced, by 187 votes. It was the last House race in the nation to be decided.
“I’m doing good,” Duarte said in an interview. “Life goes on.”
Asked why he thought he lost, Duarte pointed to the Democratic Party’s strong push to get Gray elected.
“We were outspent,” Duarte said, perhaps by millions. Final campaign finance figures are expected to be released Thursday.
While the presidential race didn’t appear to sway the outcome, President-elect Donald Trump appeared to do well in many parts of the sprawling district, which includes Merced County and parts of Madera, Stanislaus, Fresno and San Joaquin counties
Trump is ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, by 4.5 percentage points in Merced County. In Madera County he’s up by about 21 points, Stanislaus by 11, Fresno by 4.5 and San Joaquin by about 1. Harris won statewide by 20 percentage points.
Duarte called Gray to concede once the results were clear. Gray’s win means Republicans will control 220 House seats when the new session begins January 3. Democrats will have 215 seats.
One of the big issues in the district, Duarte said, was immigration. “The open borders hurt” Democrats, he said.
Duarte, a businessman and farmer in the Modesto area, would not rule out another bid for political office. He beat Gray in 2022 by 564 votes.
For now, though, “I’m just going to focus on my business,” he said.
This story was originally published December 4, 2024 at 11:30 AM.
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