Here\u2019s a cleaner and slightly shorter rewritten version of your article:<\/p>\n
California Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher scored a major victory in a special election, securing enough votes to avoid a runoff and maintain GOP control of the state\u2019s 1st Congressional District.<\/p>\n
Gallagher earned 62.6% of the vote with just over half the ballots counted, easily surpassing the 50% threshold needed for an outright win.<\/p>\n
The special election was held following the death of longtime Republican Congressman Doug LaMalfa, who represented the district since 2013. LaMalfa passed away in January after suffering a heart attack related to an aortic dissection. He was 65 years old.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a mix of emotions,\u201d Gallagher told KRCR-TV after the race was called. \u201cMissing Congressman Doug LaMalfa, who is a mentor to me, but also just feeling overwhelmed by the amount of support that we\u2019ve had tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Democratic State Senator Mike McGuire narrowly edged Democrat Audrey Denney for second place by just 37 votes, with both candidates receiving 17.9%.<\/p>\n
The election comes as California continues counting ballots from the June 2 primary, including the closely watched Los Angeles mayoral race.<\/p>\n
Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass failed to secure the 51% needed to avoid a runoff, setting up a likely November showdown. Former reality TV personality Spencer Pratt currently holds second place ahead of City Councilwoman Nithya Raman.<\/p>\n
As of Thursday morning, vote totals showed:
\n\u2013 Karen Bass: 183,701 (35%)
\n\u2013 Spencer Pratt: 157,116 (29.9%)
\n\u2013 Nithya Raman: 119,809 (22.8%)<\/p>\n
If Pratt advances, he would become the first Republican mayoral finalist in Los Angeles in decades.<\/p>\n
Supporters say his campaign has gained momentum because of growing frustration over crime, homelessness, wildfires, and the city\u2019s business climate.<\/p>\n
Business leader John Putnam said many voters are dissatisfied with current leadership and believe Pratt\u2019s direct style is resonating with residents looking for change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot of people are concerned about what\u2019s happening,\u201d Putnam said. \u201cEven if you don\u2019t want to vote for him, you\u2019re listening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here\u2019s a cleaner and slightly shorter rewritten version of your article: California Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher scored a major victory in a special election, securing enough votes to avoid a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":599,"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions\/599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlybirdstories.pics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}