Tony Strickland

Republican Tony Strickland has built a substantial lead over Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson in the still-undecided battle for the 19th state Senate District.

Election night ended with Jackson clinging to a 108 vote lead over Strickland. Since then, however, Strickland has surged ahead by over 2,250 votes.

Republican Tony Strickland has moved into the lead for the first time in the 19th State Senate District race against Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson, up by more than 1,500 votes Friday evening on a count posted on the California Secretary of State's Web site.

The tallies late this week mark the first time former Assemblyman Strickland (R-Moorpark) has led in the race, which both parties targeted this fall.

A Republican political consultant said he and others are still investigating a mysterious robocall received on Election Day that encouraged GOP party members to skip voting because the presidential race was all but decided.

Tim Clark, who worked with 10th Assembly District candidate Jack Sieglock and others, said that while the call didn't mention any local candidates, it appeared to be directed at Republican voters in contested state legislative districts.

SACRAMENTO -- Democratic legislative leaders were generally pleased with the results of Tuesday's election, but noted that they're still some distance from some goals, and disappointed in a few results.

Outgoing state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) and his successor, Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), said at a state capitol press conference that they believed that Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson would hold a narrow lead in her Senate District 19 race against Republican Tony Strickland.

As of Wednesday morning, Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson is leading Republican Tony Strickland by a mere 108 votes out of over 300,000 ballots cast in the 19th Senate District.

Both campaigns are working hard throughout the morning to determine how many ballots have yet to be counted. The problem is compounded by the fact that the district is comprised of three different counties -- Ventura, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara -- making it that much harder for the campaigns to keep track of uncounted votes.

By 4 a.m. Wednesday morning, with 98 percent of precincts reporting, Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson was clinging to a 386 vote lead over Republican Tony Strickland in their fight for the 19th state Senate District.

Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson has pulled into an early but substantial lead over Republican Tony Strickland in the 19th state Senate District. With about 156,000 votes counted, Jackson is leading Strickland 52 percent to 48 percent.

Tony Strickland's campaign is counting on a big turnout in select areas of the 19th state Senate District to carry him to victory Tuesday, according to political consultant Joe Justin.

Independent expenditure committees spent more than $2.3 million on the general election campaign for the open seat in the 19th state Senate District.

In the final week of the campaign, eight different outside groups combined to spend almost $600,000 to get Republican Tony Strickland elected in the 19th state Senate District.