Voters have re-elected a 16-year Republican incumbent in a competitive race for the 49th District Congressional Race.
Only a few thousand votes separated Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa from his Democratic challenger Doug Applegate once all the votes had been counted in the 49th District. Issa has held the seat since 2000.
The contest was one of more than a dozen seats that were considered toss-ups. And make no mistake - this race was closer than expected.
Both candidates spent the last few weeks crisscrossing the 49th district (North County and the southern part of Orange County).
“I think we will be into this well into the night if not the next couple of days,” Applegate told NBC 7 before polls closed Tuesday.
He's run on a platform of job and economic growth, a functioning and funded VA System, and political donation transparency.
Issa's campaign received twice the amount in contributions over his challenger as of July and spent three times what Applegate spent in the final months of the campaign, according to October quarterly expense reports filed with the FEC.
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But PAC money dwarfs all of that.
Issa spoke with NBC 7's Bridget Naso about his early support of the Republican nominee for president Donald Trump.
“I think the voters understand that A, Donald Trump wasn’t my first choice; B, I disagree with him on a number of issues,” Issa said.
Issa said he would disagree with President Barack Obama when it comes to scandals involving the current administration.
“I did my job of exposing a lot of them and letting the American people decide on the reforms necessary.”
Applegate calls his opponent's endorsement of Donald Trump an embarrassment but based his success so far on the voter desire to get things done in Washington, D.C.
Once all votes were counted, Issa came away with 51 percent of the vote, or 93,684 votes. Applegate came away with 49 percent of the vote, or 89,704 votes.
See full results here.
