Young Kim Leading In 39th District Race: Real Time Results

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Former Assemblywoman Young Kim holds a 4,045-vote lead over Rep. Gil Cisneros Thursday, looking for a better outcome than her loss of the 39th Congressional District in 2018.

Kim holds a narrow but widening lead at 50.6% to 49.4% for the district that runs from Walnut in the north to Chino Hills in the east, Hacienda Heights in the west and Fullerton in the south.

Kim has 168,858 votes and Cisneros 164,813, according to figures released Wednesday by the Secretary of State's Office.

The GOP continues their hope to regain their congressional foothold in the once-decidedly conservative county.

Read: Rep. Harley Rouda Concedes Defeat In 48th District Battle, Calls For Unity

As of late Wednesday, Kim led by 4,160 votes. It is not known how many ballots are left to count.

Mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day can be received as late as Nov. 20 and still be counted under state law.

The race is a rematch of 2018, when Cisneros, D-Yorba Linda, defeated Kim, 51.6%-48.4%, 126,002-118,391, to succeed Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, who held the seat from 1993-2019. Kim had been a member of Royce's staff.

Kim, R-La Habra, was leading in the vote count in 2018 and traveled to Washington, D.C., for orientation for newly elected House members, only to be overtaken by Cisneros in late-arriving ballots.

Kim is seeking to be the second Republican to oust a Democratic Orange County House member first elected in 2018.

Rep. Harley Rouda, Democrat, conceded defeat to Board of Supervisors Chair Michelle Steel Tuesday in the coastal 48th Congressional District.

Related: Rouda Concedes Defeat In 48th District Battle, Calls For Unity