Khanna not giving up in race with fellow Democrat, Rep. Mike Honda

In one of the handful of fall congressional races between members of the same political party in California, former Obama administration official Ro Khanna said he is not giving up in his battle with Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose).

At the end of the election night tally, Honda led Khanna 52.2% to 47.8%. But Khanna estimated Wednesday that there were at least 40,000 ballots remaining to be counted and that it could take days before the outcome is known.

“When we started this campaign nearly two years ago, I was polling at just 3%,” Khanna of Fremont said in a statement released Wednesday. “Now, they’re still counting ballots. It’s that close.”

The Honda campaign predicted the veteran congressman will prevail after the final ballot is counted.

Fall contests between members of the same party were made possible by the state’s top-two system, in which all candidates appear on the same primary ballot and only the first- and second-place finishers, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election.

In the race between two Republicans to succeed retiring Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) in a northeast Los Angeles County district, state Sen. Stephen Knight (R-Palmdale) defeated former Republican state legislator Tony Strickland, 53.5% to 46.5%.

The other four same-party House races were blowouts. Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) defeated military veteran Art Moore, 60.1% to 39.9%.

On the Democratic side, Reps. Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles and Lucille Roybal-Allard of Downey trounced their Democratic challengers. State Sen. Norma Torres of Pomona easily beat attorney Christina Gagnier for an open House seat straddling San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.

Follow @jeanmerl for the latest in Southern California politics news.