Christy Smith Finally Concedes to Rep. Mike Garcia in California Race As Final Votes Are Counted

After previously refusing to concede to House Rep. Mike Garcia in a California Congressional race even though Garcia declared victory as his lead grew, Democratic challenger Christy Smith issued a concession statement today.

Smith’s statement began by acknowledging that “With final votes counted in this race, it’s clear we will not be able to close the 339-vote gap.”

After the most recent ballot dump had shown that the gap had narrowed from the previous 446 to 405. The margin now stands at 339, as Smith referenced in her statement.

##CA25 Update pic.twitter.com/tmo6ZBaZD9

— CATargetBot (@CATargetBot) December 1, 2020

Smith continued, “This is not the end result we fought for, but I am proud of the strong, grassroots campaign we ran.”

Apparently ruling out a recount, Smith said, “Over the last few weeks, our attorneys reviewed thousands of uncounted ballots, and our campaign volunteers undertook an extraordinary effort to cure hundreds of votes throughout the district that otherwise may not have been counted.”

“We exhausted every possible option and did everything within our power to ensure that every voice in this election was heard. Nonetheless, we came up short,” Smith acknowledged.

Smith continued in the statement by thanking all of those who worked with her campaign and claimed that “we weren’t just a campaign, we were a community that came together to give back to our neighbors in need.”

Thank you, #TeamChristy. pic.twitter.com/cOjFKRFnbq

— Christy Smith (@ChristyforCA25) December 1, 2020

Garcia, a former fighter pilot, celebrated the news by sharing a celebratory scene of a fighter jet landing in the comedy “Hot Shots!”

https://t.co/2WYo8Bwc3p

— Mike Garcia (@MikeGarcia2020) December 1, 2020

As noted by CBS Los Angeles, California’s 25th Congressional District stretches from the Antelope Valley into Ventura County and includes the cities of Palmdale and Santa Clarita.

Despite the fact that California has more Democrat representatives in the House than they had percentage of the presidential vote, one supporter of Smith complained about gerrymandering.

“This is what happens when districts are gerrymandered! Why the f*ck do we have a small sliver of venture county in our district? They are the ones who flipped this race,” he claimed.

A response to his query dismissed the concerns and said, “California has an independent, bi-partisan commission for districting — https://wedrawthelines.ca.gov. Maybs(e) Smith lost because overall the people of CA-25 preferred the other candidate?”

California has an independent, bi-partisan commission for districting — https://t.co/5fIxc1LRpH

Maybs Smith lost because overall the people of CA-25 preferred the other candidate?

— Bob Trahan 🇺🇸 (@btrahan) December 1, 2020