Tight Race for Assembly Seat in Riverside County Could Head to Runoff

Republican Natasha Johnson leads Democrat Chris Shoults by less than 1 percent, and both are short of 50 percent.

Election workers sort ballots at the Riverside County Registrar of Voters office in Riverside, Calif., on Nov 9, 2024. May Li/The Epoch Times

Republican Natasha Johnson is leading by a narrow margin of 271 votes in early results of the June 24 special election to fill the District 63 state Assembly seat, which covers parts of Riverside and Orange counties.

Johnson’s lead amounts to less than 1 percent of votes counted over Democrat Chris Shoults as of the latest data reported at 11:26 p.m. on June 24.