UPDATE: Ballots Still Being Counted in Tight 36th Congressional Race
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Ruiz Defeats Bono Mack Video by kmir6.com
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PALM DESERT - Despite early reports of a projected win for Democrat Dr. Raul Ruiz in the 36th Congressional District race against incumbent Representative Mary Bono Mack, both campaigns are being cautiously optimistic before calling the race. The reason being, more than 180,000 ballots are still uncounted, according to the Riverside County Registrar's office.
With 100% of the precincts now reporting, both state and Riverside County election results report Dr. Raul Ruiz has the lead in the race with 51 percent of the vote. He led over Mary Bono Mack, who had 48 percent of the vote, according to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters website.
Ruiz collected 83,402 votes to Bono Mack's 78,845 votes. A total of 162,247 votes were counted, with another 183,000 ballots still not counted - 105,000 of those being mail-in ballots, 60,000 provisional ballots and 18,000 damaged ballots.
The County Registrar's office says the next update of results is expected Thursday afternoon.
Representative Bono Mack isn't conceding the race as of Wednesday afternoon. A spokesman with her campaign said they want to see what develops when more of the results have come through and have been counted.
Bono Mack has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since her late husband, Sonny Bono, passed away in 1998.
Stay tuned to KMIR6 News and KMIR6.com for further updates on this developing election news.
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