The 30th Assembly District race between Republican Danny Gilmore and Democrat Fran Florez moved back into the "close races" category on the California Secretary of State's Web site Tuesday, with Gilmore leading Florez by 883 votes.

That gave Gilmore, from Hanford, a vote percentage of 50.6 percent, to 49.4 percent for Florez, the mayor of Shafter.

Previously the seat of termed-out Assemblywoman Nicole Parra (D-Hanford), the 30th would be the only state legislative seat that switched from a Democrat to a Republican this year if Gilmore's lead holds.

The Secretary of State's Web site defined as a close race any where the margin between the top two vote getters was less than two percentage points. The AD-30 race has been within and then outside that margin at various times during the three weeks since the election as ballots have been counted.

Regardless of the result, both Gilmore and Florez seem likely to square off again in 2010. Gilmore has already opened a campaign account for the AD-30 seat in two years, and the Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday that Florez sent an e-mail to supporters saying she would also run again in two years.

ELSEWHERE on PolitickerCA.com:

• Huber narrows gap in AD 10, AD 30 widens for Republican Gilmore
• AD 10 race still undecided, AD 30 race now 50-49