A surprise in San Bernardino County’s ballot count Wednesday has Palm Springs City Councilmember Christy Holstege now slightly ahead in the race for the State Assembly’s 47th District seat over her opponent, Greg Wallis.
Holstege, a Democrat, was 12 votes behind after both Riverside and San Bernardino counties announced their latest ballot totals Tuesday. But with only San Bernardino County announcing results Wednesday she is now 21 votes ahead — 84,455 to 84,434. San Bernardino had been tipping solidly in Republican Wallis’s favor for days following the Nov. 8 election.
While only 61 additional votes in the race were added to the San Bernardino County tally on Wednesday, Holstege picked up 77% of them. That was enough to swing the count again in her favor in a seesaw contest that has enthralled local and state politics junkies but kept the fate of both candidates in a state of suspended animation.
San Bernardino County reported 3,500 votes remaining to be tallied. It will update again Thursday evening. Riverside County, with 1,000 ballots left to count, also promised to release more results Thursday. The 47th District contains portions of both counties, including the western half of the Coachella Valley, which includes Palm Springs.
Holstege is midway through her second term on the City Council as the District 4 representative. Should she win a seat in Sacramento, it would create a vacancy that would be filled by either a special election or an appointment. So far, four people have stepped up to say they would like to fill a potential vacancy.
