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All ballot numbers obtained from vote.sos.ca.gov. The numbers are current as of 1:15 a.m. with a total of 98.7 percent of precincts reporting for District 16 and 93.2 percent of precincts reporting for District 22.

Congressional District 22

In the race for Congressional District 22, Republican incumbent Devin Nunes held a strong lead as of 11 p.m. on Tuesday night. He had been locked in a campaign battle against Democratic challenger Andrew Janz.

Nunes, who had a 57 percent lead over Janz’ 47 percent, has served as the district’s representative since 2013, prior to which he represented District 21 from 2003 until redistricting redefined District 21 as District 23.

Janz is a Fresno County prosecutor who gained a local following through his grassroots campaign.

The race gained national attention due in part to Nunes’ high profile as a close affiliate of President Donald Trump. It is also one of the most expensive congressional races in history with a sum of nearly $17 million spent between the two candidates, according to opensecrets.org.

At Nunes’ election party on Tuesday night in Hanford, attendees waited eagerly for results to pour in. As the night moved on and early numbers favored Nunes, the crowd became more relaxed. Nunes made brief remarks but did not speak to the press.

At Janz’s election party in Fresno, the crowd buzzed at the beginning of the night. Heather Greven, Janz’s campaign manager, was optimistic about the results throughout the night.

“The great news about tonight is that at the end of night we are going to have a new member of Congress,” Greven said. “If Andrew becomes a new member of Congress I think you’re going to see him holding a lot of town hall meetings.”

Reporting contributed by Fresno State Focus reporters Scott Gruenwald and Clayton Jones.

Congressional District 16

The race for Congressional District 16 between Democratic incumbent Jim Costa and Republican challenger Elizabeth Heng gained attention leading up to Tuesday’s election and remained close. In the end, Costa had a comfortable lead with 53 percent of the vote.

Costa has served as representative of the district since 2013, before which he had served as representative of District 20 since 2005.

The two candidates met in live debates on both CW59 and KSEE24 over the past few weeks. Heng questioned Costa’s effectiveness during his 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, while Costa addressed his challenger’s eight-year absence from the Valley.

At Tuesday’s campaign party in downtown Fresno, Heng said she was excited to have run her campaign against Costa, whom she sought to replace mostly due to what she called lack of leadership.

“We’ve been talking about the same problems for far too long. I hope that message resonated with our community,” Heng said.

Costa did not seem fazed by Heng’s challenge. He confidently said at his central Fresno campaign party. “The results in Fresno are as they’ve been in the past. Madera’s always been a bit of a challenge. Good folks there. And I think we’re ultimately going to win the Merced county.”

Reporting contributed by The Collegian Opinion Editor Christina Tran and reporter Jorge Rodriguez.

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All ballot numbers obtained from vote.sos.ca.gov. The numbers are current as of 1:15 a.m. with a total of 90.9 percent of precincts reporting for Assembly and 94.5 percent of precincts reporting for Senate.

State Assembly District 23

Republican candidate for California’s Assembly District 23 Jim Patterson previously served as Mayor of Fresno from 1993-2001. Patterson has spent most of his career as a business owner and broadcast executive, owning and operating radio stations in California and Idaho.

Patterson has a Bachelors of Political Science from Fresno State. He is co-chair of the California House Committee on Legislative Ethics and vice chair of Utilities and Commerce

Patterson has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of California, California Pro-Life Council and Crime Victims United of California.

Patterson’s challenger, Democrat Aileen Rizo, is in the process of earning a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas Tech University.

Rizo has a master’s degree mathematics education from Fresno Pacific University and a master’s in Educational/Instructional Technology from Northern Arizona University.

She is currently an adjunct professor at Fresno Pacific and has served as a math instructor in multiple school districts, including in Phoenix, Arizona.In 2018, Rizo won a Supreme Court case in which the Court decided that it was unlawful for an employer to use past salary, either alone or in combination with other factors, to justify pay gaps between men and women under the federal Equal Pay Act.

State Senate District 8

California’s 8th Senate district covers all of Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne counties and part of Fresno, Madera, Sacramento, Stanislaus, and Tulare Counties.

Running for the Senate seat are Republican Andrew Borgeas and Democrat Paulina Miranda. Borgeas and Miranda defeated Democrat Tom Pratt and Independent Mark Belden in the June 5 primary elections. Borgeas got 59 percent of the vote and Miranda followed with 21 percent.

Miranda previously ran for California State Senate District 8 in 2014 and District 16 in 2013. She became an ex-officio member of the Fresno County Democratic Central Committee in 2014.

Borgeas is the District 2 representative on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, first elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016.

According to a media release, Borgeas will be hosting a campaign party Tuesday at the Elbow Room in the Fig Garden Shopping Center at 7 p.m. Borgeas would be the first State Senator from Fresno County in over twelve years should he be elected.

Propositions

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Related — Get informed on the propositions in the 2018 ballot

All ballot numbers obtained from vote.sos.ca.gov. The numbers are current as of 1:15 a.m. with a total of 65.9 percent of precincts reporting.