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Democrats Pick Up Another Congressional Seat

WASHINGTON (AP) - Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar has won an open congressional seat in Southern California, giving Democrats a measure of good news to counter the GOP's rout nationally.

Aguilar led Republican Paul Chabot 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent Friday in the race to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Gary Miller.

The district in the Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles trended strongly Democratic after redistricting. Still, Aguilar had trouble putting away Chabot, even though he received strong financial backing from Democratic groups nationally while Chabot was left to campaign on his own.

Six other congressional races in California remained too close to call Friday, all of them with Democratic incumbents. One of those is a same-party challenge.

Republicans nationally have picked up 12 seats so far in the House of Representatives.

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