The race for California’s 45th District, which comprises parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties, has remained the closest in the country for several days now.

As of Thursday morning, Tran was ahead of Steele by just 314 votes. In the initial Election Day count, Steel took a sizable lead of thousands of votes, but as more ballots were counted, her lead narrowed until the race flipped in Tran’s favor. Last week, Steel led by 58 votes, until Tran pulled 36 votes ahead of her over the weekend.

None of this is fraudulent, however, as California has a notably slower rate of counting than other states due to its long ballot verification process and the fact many of its residents utilize mail-in ballots. California law also requires that ballots are counted so long as the envelopes are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at the registrar’s office within a week of the election.

“These votes count just as much as those from early voters,” Tran said in a social media post. “Both parties and campaigns have had officials observing the count in OC and LA. I am grateful to the election workers who continue to do their essential work in the face of lies, hostility, and bomb threats.”

While California does not have automatic recounts, any voter or campaign can request one within five days of the election being certified, but the entity that requested it is required to cover the costs of a recount. Recounts for congressional races can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they rarely change the outcomes of elections, according to FairVote.

Last week, California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson said the party recruited thousands of volunteers to monitor the state’s ballot-counting process and reach out to voters whose ballots were flagged due to technical problems with their ballots.

“I know how frustrating it can be to wait on results during this long process,” she said in a public video. “But please know that the California Republican Party and our partners are committed to ensuring that our elections are fair and your vote is safe and secure. We won’t rest until the last legal ballot is counted.”

“We knew this was coming, as we’ve seen it before,” Patterson added.

During the 2022 midterm elections, it took nearly a month for the race between Democrat Adam Gray and now-Rep. John Duarte (R-CA) to be called. Duarte beat Gray by 564 votes, but the Associated Press did not call the race until Dec. 2.

Gray and Duarte faced each other in 2024 as well, and that race again remains too close to call. As of Thursday, Duarte leads Gray by 351 votes.

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Republicans have retained their House majority, but this race, along with two others that remain too close to call, will determine how narrow it is. Republicans have won 219 seats in the House for the next Congress.

Some Republican vacancies are coming, thanks to President-elect Donald Trump’s picking representatives for his administration. The margin for the early weeks of Congress, before special elections are held to fill those vacancies, will be very narrow.