More and more it’s looking like Republican John Duarte will represent Ceres in Congress.

The Hughson nursery businessman has held onto his lead over Democrat Adam Gray in the latest 13th Congressional District election count, which has yet to be finalized. That lead has been shrinking but holding fast. Last week Duarte was ahead of Gray by 599 votes. As of Wednesday, Duarte led with 66,871 votes (50.2 percent) over Adam Gray’s 66,272 vote count, or 49.8 percent. Additional ballots are still being counted. 

Gray currently is terming out of the 21st Assembly District.

Gray took an early lead on Election Night, 52.2 percent to Duarte’s 47.8 percent. But by Nov. 10, Duarte had overtaken Gray with a lead of 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent.

Underscoring the tightness of the contest, Gray’s campaign formed a committee to begin raising money to finance a possible recount. Those costs, which are paid to county election officials, fall on the campaign committee or voter that requested a recount. Generally, such requests cannot be made until a month after the election.