Bera is already in Washington taking part in freshman orientation ….being taught by Lungren. Bera had nothing but praise for his former rival, "Congressman Lungren has been a model of professionalism. You know it was a tough and hard-fought campaign. But, now's the time to step back and honor his years of service to our country and our community."
As a doctor and a congressman, Bera says he wants to be an advocate for patients, "We have to make this all about patients, all about delivering high-quality health care. We also need to start addressing the cost of care. Far too often, individuals, business owners and large corporations are paying more and more for health care and getting less and less. And so it's time that we started shifting and addressing the cost of care."
Bera says the budget deficit and economic recovery are also issues that must be addressed.
As of Thursday night, Dan Lungren had not conceded the race.
From the Associated Press: Democratic challenger ousts GOP Rep. Lungren in close-margin Calif. House contest.
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Alice Jarboe of the Sacramento County Election Offie says "today's update shows that we've processed another 38,510 ballots since Tuesday's update. This leaves an estimated 7,782 vbm (vote-by-mail) and of course the 31,000 provisional ballots left to process."
She added that the next update has been moved to 3 p.m. Monday to allow more ballots to be included in the update.
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