Dr. Ruiz Leads Bono Mack in Congress Race
With nearly 200,000 ballots still uncounted, Democrat Dr. Raul Ruiz holds a slight lead over incumbent Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack in the 36th Congressional District race.
It could be another day or two until an official winner is declared.
A certain nail-biter to the end, but as of right now, Dr. Raul Ruiz leads Mary Bono Mack by 4,500 votes.
Wednesday voters celebrated, or mourned the nation's election results.
Some voters are looking forward to the coming years.
"Well I'm elated, I think progress was being made and we've got to continue what's been going on over the years," said Rancho Mirage resident, Nelson Hower.
But for other voters, that's not the case. Rancho Mirage resident, Ann Russell wore black for a reason.
"I'm mourning, that says it in a nutshell, but I'll always hope for the best," said Russell.
The newly drawn Congressional District 36 was a closely watched and matched race between Dr. Raul Ruiz and long-standing Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack.
"Ready for a change, I felt that she didn't really help us like she could have," said Tim Petek, a Thousand Palms resident.
"I'll be missing Mary Bono Mack and I hope Mr., Dr. Ruiz can do as well as she," said Russell.
Projected Congressman-Elect Raul Ruiz visited our station, and says he knew it would be a challenging election.
"But we also knew if we met every single one of our goals, if we talked about what people are really concerned about and trying to bring people together to find solutions to protect Medicare and to strengthen it and to improve the economy and to create a better educational system for our youth, that we knew that we would become victorious," said Dr. Ruiz.
We reached out to Mary Bono Mack..
Her representative said with more than 180,000 ballots yet to be counted, the Congresswoman isn't conceding just yet.
But Raul Ruiz is planning how he will represent the 36th District.
"We have to make sure that we go beyond our hyper-partisan ideologues, and bickering and the gridlock and make sure that we continue to have our listening tours and our town hall meetings and really understand not only our differences, but find common ground with everybody," said Dr. Ruiz.
And people are preparing for the road ahead here in the valley, and across the nation.
"I have two daughters and Obama winning kind of helps me feel comfortable that I have two daughters that have rights and choices," said Petek.
"So overall California I think we're okay still, in four years, in two years we'll get back into the battle," said Palm Desert resident, Bill Gearhart.
The ballots yet to be counted include 105,000 vote-by-mail, 60,000 provisional and 18,000 damaged.
The Registrar of Voters says the next updated results will be posted Thursday at 6pm.





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