Helms Lewis opens up a large lead over longtime Merced DA Morse

Challenger Kimberly Helms Lewis' lead continues to grow over longtime incumbent District Attorney Larry Morse II.

The first round of vote-by-mail ballots, released shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m., put Helms Lewis ahead with a large margin of about 1,300 votes. Another round of votes reported shortly after 9 p.m., showed a small increase in her lead.

Ballots reported as of 9:10 p.m. showed Helms Lewis in the lead 3,075 to Morse's 1,626, a difference of about 1,449. That lead grew again at 9:35 p.m., with Helms Lewis carrying 4,601 votes to Morse's 2,332, a lead of more than 2,000 votes. She tacked on another 1,00 votes to her lead at 10:05 p.m. with 6,730 votes for Helms Lewis to Morse's 3,369, a lead of more than 3,300.

The mood was upbeat early in the night at Helms Lewis' campaign party at Cova's restaurant in Merced, where a large crowd was gathering to watch election results come in.

Helms Lewis said it was still too early to say much about the results with so many ballots still to count.

Across town at 510 Bistro on Main Street, Morse was more subdued but remained upbeat.

"The early numbers are disappointing, but there's a long way to go," Morse said. "We'll wait to see where it goes."

Check back for updates.

This story was originally published June 5, 2018 at 9:18 PM with the headline "Helms Lewis opens up a large lead over longtime Merced DA Morse."