Tight race between Democratic Congressman Jim Costa, Republican Kevin Cookingham for District 16

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Republican Kevin Cookingham and Democratic Congressman Jim Costa were neck-and-neck in the Congressional District 16 primary elections on Tuesday night.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Cookingham, the former head of Clovis Adult Education, was leading - but barely - winning 39% of the total votes counted, while 37% of the votes counted had gone to Costa.

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The top two candidates in the March 3 primary will advance and square off in the general election in November

The 16th district includes parts of Fresno, Madera, and Merced counties.

The congressional primary also includes Democrat Esmeralda Soria, who was in third place with 18.4% of the votes and progressive Democrat Kim Williams of Merced, who had 5.7% of the votes.

No matter the outcome, most of the candidates were pleased with the efforts of their campaign.