Capitol Alert

Victors in most of the state's major races were clear once early returns rolled in, but several races remain too close to call more than 10 hours after the polls closed.

The closest contest so far is in the 11th Congressional District, where just 121 votes separated the two candidates as of 6:20 a.m..

Incumbent Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney and Republican challenger David Harmer are locked in a dead heat, with 47.5 percent of the vote apiece according to the secretary of state's latest count. McNerney currently leads by a handful of votes, though less than an hour ago, the margin was 13 votes in Harmer's favor.

Don't expect this one to be resolved anytime soon. As a Harmer supportertweeted this morning, "Recount....here we come??"

The attorney general battle is still tight, with Democrat Kamala Harris currently leading Republican Steve Cooley by about 44,000 votes statewide, 46.2 percent to 45.5 percent.

In a night when Republicans made sweeping gains nationwide, Harris is the only Democrat running for constitutional office (Board of Equalization members aside) who didn't lock down a win last night.

Republican Andy Vidak is showing a slight edge over incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Costa in the latest 20th Congressional District count. Vidak is currently ahead 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, a margin of 693 votes.

The only state legislative race still up in the air is the 5th Assembly District. Democrat Richard Pan is leading Republican Andy Pugno by roughly 3,000 votes in the longtime GOP district, 49.1 percent to 46.1 percent. Final results in that race could be delayed by a mandate to finish counting ballots in the overlapping 1st Senate District special election first.

In other election contest updates:

• The 5th Assembly District aside, last nights results have caused no net change in the partisan make-up of the Assembly or Senate. Assembly Democrats pulled out wins in targeted districts, including Assembly District 10 • and Assembly District 15, while Republicans maintained control of several of their close seats.
•Republicans held on to the targeted 12th Senate District, with Republican Anthony Cannella defeating Democratic Assemblywoman Anna Caballero.
•Voters in the heavily Democratic 28th Senate District re-elected deceased Democratic Sen. Jenny Oropeza. Oropeza, who died unexpectedly last month, defeated the Republican on the ballot by nearly 20 points. A special election to fill the vacant seat will be called next month.
• Republican Assemblyman Ted Gaines and Democrat Ken Cooley will square off in a January run-off electionfor the vacant 1st Senate District seat. The district has a strong GOP voter registration edge so Gaines, who beat out two other Republicans, should be favored to succeed the late Sen. Dave Cox.
• Voters approved Proposition 25, giving Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, and the Democratic-controlled Legislature the ability to pass a budget on a majority vote. But some of the other proposition results could complicate this year's budget process.

Check out all the coverage of election results at SacBee.com and Capitol Alert.

The Bee Capitol Bureau will be posting more results and updates on these races as the results roll in. Visit Capitol Alert for the latest numbers.

UPDATE: A previous post mistakenly identified a tweet from a Harmer supporter as coming from Harmer himself. The post has been updated to reflect the error.