Garcia keeps 80th Assembly District seat as Clute concedes; count goes on

After two tense weeks of waiting for uncounted absentee ballots to be tallied, Democrat Steve Clute on Tuesday conceded a cutthroat Assembly race to incumbent Bonnie Garcia.

Clute’s announcement came after Riverside County election officials finished counting roughly 100,000 absentee ballots late Monday, including about 17,000 that affected the race for the 80th Assembly District.

The updated count doubled Garcia’s election day lead over Clute to 2,202 votes.

Counties throughout the state had stockpiles of uncounted ballots, and in Riverside County uncounted ballots constituted a third of votes cast. Election officials said the backlog was caused primarily by the crush of absentee ballots that were dropped off at polling places on election day or delivered by mail in the days leading up to the election.

Garcia (R-Cathedral City), who will serve her third term, is leading 51.5% to 48.5%. Her district includes the Coachella Valley and Imperial County.

Although Imperial County election officials on Tuesday were still counting 5,100 absentees that would affect the race, Clute said the updated Riverside County results showed that his chances of ousting Garcia were slim.

“I’d like to think optimistic, but I don’t see a big change in the trends, so it’s appropriate for me to congratulate Ms. Garcia,” Clute said.

He said he planned to call the assemblywoman today.

Garcia said she never doubted she’d hold onto her lead.

“I was confident we’d done work we needed to do. I’m grateful to be voted for and given the opportunity to serve again,” Garcia said.

“I think it’s been a long week for both of us, and I’m glad it’s over.”

The race was one of the state’s few competitive contests and was marked by colorful mailers and attack ads from both sides. Clute criticized Garcia after she jokingly told a class of La Quinta High School seniors during an informal question-and-answer session that she wouldn’t kick the governor out of her bed. Garcia called Clute a carpetbagger who was shopping for a district to represent.

Clute, who served in the Assembly more than a decade ago, said he hadn’t given much thought to running for the seat again in 2008, when Garcia will be forced from office because of term limits. He said he planned to return to his job as executive director at the Children’s Spine Foundation of Riverside and stay involved in the community.

Riverside County Registrar of Voters Barbara Dunmore said there were still about 15,000 provisional ballots and 5,000 paper ballots left to count.

Other contests that could still hinge on those ballots include the races for Menifee Union, Jurupa and Coachella Valley school districts.

*

sara.lin@latimes.com