Shemia Fagan edges ahead of Mark Hass in Democrat race for secretary of state

SALEM, Ore. (AP/KTVZ) -- It appeared on Tuesday night that state Senator Mark Hass had edged fellow state Senator Shemia Fagan for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state -- but more ballot-counting Wednesday has put Fagan narrowly out in front.

As a result, The Associated Press said Wednesday night that the race is too close to call.

Fagan, with 195,848 votes late Wednesday, according to the state's results website, leads Mark Hass by 1,900 votes out of more than 540,000 counted. That's a margin of less than 0.4 percentage points. (Hass had 193.,898 votes and Jamie McLeod-Skinner was third with 150,426)

Oregon's counties report more than 88,000 ballots left to count, though some of those ballots were cast in Republican primaries.

The counties expect to continue counting votes through at least Friday.

The winner will face Republican nominee Kim Thatcher in November. Thatcher easily defeated Dave Stauffer in the GOP primary, with more than 85 percent of the votes.