In a come from behind victory, Alyson Huber defeated Jack Sieglock in what amounted to a very, very close race for the 10th District seat. Sieglock, who was ahead in the ballot count for more than three weeks, officially lost the election when it became clear on Wednesday that he couldn’t match Huber’s 505 vote lead with less than 300 absentee ballots to count.

Huber wasn’t even invited to the Assembly’s orientation session two weeks ago, now says, “It’s just starting to sink in”. The Democrat will succeed termed-out Alan Nakanishi, R-Lodi, representing Amador and portions of Sacramento, El Dorado and San Joaquin counties. Huber’s victory has given Democrats a three-seat gain in the Assembly after the new class is sworn in Monday. Republicans will be outnumbered 51-29, three votes shy of a super majority.

Sieglock expressed gratitude to friends and supporters and wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving  then offered his opinion on the Democrat’s majority in Assembly, “I really hope they don’t raise taxes because I think that’s the wrong medicine for California,” he said.

Huber claims her last-minute defeat of Sieglock was due to a block of 3,704 Sacramento County votes that were counted Tuesday and favored her by roughly 60 percent to 40 percent.

Overall, Huber won handily in Sacramento County, capturing 53 percent of the vote but she lost to Sieglock in Amador, El Dorado and San Joaquin counties. Libertarian Janice Bonser received 7 percent of the vote in the 10th District, which stretches from northern Stockton to Rancho Cordova.

Huber is a business attorney who has never held a public office. She benefited from heavy Democratic Party support and from nearly $1.4 million spent by labor unions to promote her candidacy. Sieglock’s campaign was supported by the Republican Party and by the California Medical Association, which spent $50,000 on his behalf.

The 10th District has been historically conservative, but recent years have shown voter registration moving further to the left. Current records show the two parties are roughly equal.

“I grew up in this district, and I know these voters,” said Huber, an El Dorado Hills resident who was raised in Lodi. “They care more about the person and the issues that you’ll fight for than they do about whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat.” About the current economic status of the state she said, “It’s true that we’re in challenging times right now, but I look forward to doing the job I was elected to do, which was to tackle some of those challenging problems”.