The race for California’s 25th Congressional District all but tied Thursday as Democratic Assemblywoman Christy Smith and Republican Rep. Mike Garcia reached 50-50% of the vote, making the election one of the state’s closest contests as ballots continue to be counted.

The state Secretary of State’s updated vote tallies released Thursday showed Smith led with only 256 votes. She garnered 138,259 (50%) and the incumbent Garcia caught up with a total of 138,003 (50%) after 1,408 votes were added to his tally since Wednesday evening.

The gap in votes between the candidates has continuously tightened from 1% to 0.6% before hitting its current tie. Similarly, in L.A. County, where Smith previously led by 2 points, she led Thursday by 1.68 percentage points after earning 115,106 votes (50.84%) and Garcia at 111,310 (49.16%).

A second close contest in California is the 21st Senate District, where incumbent Republican Scott Wilk has kept his lead but only by 0.8%. He earned 50.4% (147,804) of the votes counted so far, while Democratic challenger Kipp Mueller received 49.6% (145,300). In L.A. County, however, Mueller led with 50.49% (111,473) and Wilk fell behind with 49.51% (109,325).

The Secretary of State’s office lists five elections in California as “close” contests, and two of those five include the Santa Clarita Valley: the 25th Congressional District and the 21st Senate District.

California has already counted 12.4 million ballots and an estimated 4.5 million outstanding ballots remain to be processed, state officials said Thursday. The county is also expected to release Thursday its updated number of outstanding ballots. In L.A. County, an estimated 791,200 have yet to be processed.

Breakdown of additional races:

27th Senate District race

– Henry Stern (D, incumbent):
Entire district: 60.9%, 243,568.
L.A. County only: 65.09%, 236,728.

– Houman Salem (R):
Entire district: 39.1%, 156,560.
L.A. County: 34.91%, 87,531.

38th Assembly District race

– Suzette Valladares (R):
Entire district: 75.9%, 124,523.
L.A. County only: 78.56%, 91,644.

– Lucie Volotzky (R):
Entire district: 24.1% 39,572.
L.A. County only: 21.44%, 25,015.

36th Assembly District race

– Tom Lackey, (R, incumbent):
Entire district: 55.1%, 76,264.
L.A. County: 54.02%, 71,231.

– Steve Fox (D):
Entire district: 44.9%, 62,233
L.A. County: 45.98%, 60,630

City Council race (top two of nine candidates win)

– Cameron Smyth: 31.29%, 49,171.

– Jason Gibbs: 16.31%, 25,637.

– Kelvin Driscoll: 14.45%, 22,716.

– Chris Werthe: 11.30%. 17,761.

– TimBen Boydston: 9.81%, 15,425.

– Aakash Ahuja: 7.62%, 11,975.

– Selina Thomas: 7.29%, 11,458.

– Kenneth Dean: 1.47%, 2,309.

– Douglas Fraser: 0.46%, 718.

SCV Water Board race, per L.A. County
(top two in each division win)

Division 1

– Gary Martin (incumbent): 33.07%, 16,535.

– Beth Braunstein: 26.51%, 13,257.

– Karla Waymire: 26.51%, 13,257.

– Christine Okamoto: 19.22%, 9,608.

Division 2

– Ed Colley (incumbent): 33.96%, 19,682.

– Piotr Orzechowski: 30.35%, 17,591.

– Valerie Bradford: 19.17%, 11,110.

– Anna Kumar: 16.51%, 9,568.

Division 3

– BJ Atkins (incumbent): 28.67%, 14,852.

– Kathye Armitage: 24.33%, 12,605.

– Maria Gutzeit: 23.98%, 12,425.

– Stacy Fortner: 23.02%, 11,929.

SCV school board races, per L.A. County

William S. Hart Union School District

Trustee Area No. 1

– Linda Storli (incumbent): 45.66%, 8,809.

– Alyssa Williams: 35,43%, 6,836.

– Gordon Kirkpatrick: 18.91%, 3,648

Trustee Area No. 4

– James Webb: 54.47%, 11,722.

– Steve Sturgeon (Incumbent): 45.53%, 9,997.

Saugus Union School District

Trustee Area No. 3

– Katherine Cooper: 51.85%, 4,196.

– Christian Gadbois: 48.15%, 3,896.

Trustee Area No. 4

– Matthew Watson: 63.71%, 6,267.

– Sage Rafferty: 36.29%, 3,570.

College of the Canyons race

Trustee Area No. 2

– Edel Alonso (incumbent): 59.37%, 12,351.

– Tony Watson: 40.63%, 8,451.

Trustee Area No. 3

– Sebastian Cazares: 51.83%. 11,914.

– Fred Arnold: 48.17%, 11,072.

Trustee Area No. 4

– Michelle Jenkins (incumbent): 50.75%, 11,336.

– Jerry Danielsen: 49.25%, 11,002.