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Cooley concedes California attorney general race to Harris
File: Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley (L) and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris (R)
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Cooley concedes California attorney general race to Harris
Cooley concedes California attorney general race to Harris
Republican Steve Cooley, Los Angeles County district attorney, conceded the California attorney general's race to Kamala Harris, giving Democrats a sweep of all statewide offices. Cooley conceded as updated vote tallies continued to widen San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris' lead.
Harris is the first woman, first African American and first Indian American elected to the post.
The day after the Nov. 2 election, the attorney general’s race was too close to call.
In the weeks since then, the lead changed hands four times as counties counted mail-in and provisional ballots.
But last week Harris took the lead and never let go.
Facing a more than 50,000 vote deficit, with a little over 100,000 votes to count, Cooley conceded in a morning telephone call.
A spokesman told reporters in a conference call that Cooley lost because he was a Republican running in a heavily Democratic state.
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“The ultimate outcome to this race was frankly Democrat versus Republican," said the spokesman, Kevin Spillane. "If it was non-partisan, he would have won by several points.”
Polls indicated that at one time, Cooley held a 10-point lead over Harris.
In a statement, the Harris campaign said the Democrat would wait until the vote count concludes next week before she declares victory.
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