Democratic candidate Janice Hahn was elected to represent California’s 36th Congressional District in a special election Tuesday.
Hahn received slightly under 55 percent of the vote to eclipse Republican candidate Craig Huey’s 45 percent, according to election results.
The election was seen as a possible pick-up opportunity for Republicans, despite the district’s 18-point Democratic registration edge. Obama won the district by a 31-point margin in 2008.
Turnout in the election was light, with only 76,000 votes cast from a pool of 342,000 eligible voters.
Hahn will succeed Democrat Jane Harmon, who retired in February to serve as president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. (HAND TO HAHN COMBAT: Most offensive political ad ever?)
The campaign featured a viral political ad that attacked Hahn, a Los Angeles city councilwoman, for a program that paid former gang members to be “gang intervention specialists.” Turn Right USA, a political action committee, produced the ad.