Politics

Darrell Issa Officially Wins House Seat 3 Weeks After Election

AP/Harry Hamburg

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California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa will retain his seat in the House of Representatives in a tight race, The Associate Press announced Monday.

The former member of the House Committee On Oversight and Government Affairs had an unofficial lead of 2,300 votes after three weeks of counting, the AP reported.

Issa claimed victory in an email to supporters on the evening of Nov. 9, the day after the election, though the race had not officially been called in his favor.

“The voters of the 49th District have spoken, and I am grateful for their support in our winning campaign,” Issa told supporters, according to the Orange County Register. “As the final ballots are counted, we are confident they will affirm the results from Election Night.”

With Issa remaining in Congress, the Republicans will have at least 240 House seats. Two races in Louisiana will be decided by runoff elections in the coming weeks.

Issa faced a difficult race in Orange County, where he has served since 2001. The county voted for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the presidential race — the first time the county supported a Democratic candidate since 1936. Issa campaigned using his work with President Barack Obama on the Survivor’s Bill of Rights, a new law that protects rape victims.

The Democrat candidate for the seat, retired Marine Corps Col. Doug Applegate, has not yet conceded to Issa.

Applegate’s wife, Priscilla Applegate, filed a restraining order against him for alleged domestic abuse and stalking in 2002. (RELATED: Issa’s Dem Challenger Allegedly Abused Wife, Wanted To Oust Female Judge)

Applegate claimed a judge should be removed from his child custody evaluation earlier this year because she had filed an “extremely similar” police report to what was seen in the charges made by his ex-wife, and would not be objective.

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