47th Congressional District: Lowenthal Beats DeLong

406 of 406 precincts reporting.

7:00 a.m.  Alan Lowenthal wins the Orange County-Long Beach Congressional seat with about an 11% majority, which is roughly how many more Democrats than Republicans are registered in the new U.S. House of Representatives District.

1:35 a.m. Update: This race for the U.S. House of Representatives seat straddling west Orange County and Long Beach remained a less than 5%-point race. It is one of several California congressional races in which both national parties were investing resources and attention, hoping to win the House majority.

State Senator Alan Lowenthal's election night party was a lively and very loud group at La Traviata, a downtown Long Beach restaurant. "I'm feeling confident, but it's still early," said Lowenthal, a Democrat.

Long Beach City Councilman Gary DeLong's election night party was also an upbeat affair, with streams of people collecting in the upstairs of the Long Beach Yacht Club overlooking Alamitos Bay. "I'm ahead by 2%, which means nothing right now," DeLong said, adding with a smile, "But two percent ahead is still better than 2% behind." 

As of 8:50 p.m. From the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voter's Office, coupled with Orange County Registrar numbers, and 0 precincts reporting, DeLong holds a 929-vote lead, boosted by Orange County's absentee ballots.

2 p.m.: Candidate Alan Lowenthal fires a campaign worker in the Garden Grove office after she's accused of removing Stanton lawn signs for opponent Gary DeLong. Orange County Sheriff's Department confirms that a report was filed reporting campaign sign removal. More here.

Midday Tuesday: Candidate DeLong votes at the Masonic Temple in Park Estates, Long Beach. (see photo). Candidate Lowenthal said he voted by mail early.

Before sunrise on Tuesday, 33,523 voters had already cast their ballots in this race for the new U.S. House of Representatives seat spreading from Long Beach to Orange County. According to Eric Bauman, chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the early voting ballots broke down to 16,057 Democrats and 10,816 Republicans--and that's just in L.A. County.

Democratic State Senator Alan Lowenthal and Republican Long Beach City Councilman Gary DeLong face off in what is expected to be very competitive race.

The congressional seat was created via the redistricting process and its registered voters favor Democrats by about 10% but another 26% are undecided, or declined to state a party.

"DeLong has raised a lot of money to be sure," Bauman said, "and this race is still going to be closer than I prefer. But I  think that Lowenthal's record and reputation in the Long Beach community is stellar and I think he's better known."

Yet DeLong won Orange County's voters in the 47th district, which includes Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Stanton, Westminster and other cities. Like the presidential race, voter turn-out is considered the deciding factor.