Free Republic

He received no national-party funding, ran what he calls an “old-school” campaign without data-driven analytics, and had only one paid staffer, at $500 per month, but this third-generation dairy farmer from California may just pull out the biggest upset of the 2014 cycle. As of publication time, Republican Johnny Tacherra is leading longtime Democratic lawmaker Jim Costa in the yet-to-be-decided race for the Golden State’s 16th congressional district. With provisional ballots still to be counted, and with a 700-plus-vote cushion, Tacherra is confident that he will survive. He and his wife are heading to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to take...

".....As of publication time, Republican Johnny Tacherra is leading longtime Democratic lawmaker Jim Costa in the yet-to-be-decided race for the Golden State’s 16th congressional district. With provisional ballots still to be counted, and with a 700-plus-vote cushion, Tacherra is confident that he will survive. He and his wife are heading to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to take part in freshmen-member orientation on Capitol Hill....... ....The New York Times put the race on its “Democrats Are Expected to Win Easily” list, and the Cook Political Report labeled the seat as “Solid Democrat,” or uncompetitive. Republican national committees and organizations stayed out...

The long-shot candidate for Congress has increased his lead over incumbent Democrat Jim Costa. The latest numbers give Republican Johnny Tacherra a boost. It's still a 50-50 split, but with the latest figures from Merced County, Tacherra now leads Costa by 741 votes, out of more than 80,000 votes counted so far. Tacherra led Costa by 736 votes on election night. However, thousands of votes in Fresno, Merced and Madera counties remain to be counted.