It took nearly a month, but Democrat Cathleen Galgiani has been declared the winner of the 5th State Senate race against Republican Bill Berryhill.

Austin Erdman, San Joaquin County’s registrar of voters, said he certified the election early Monday, Dec. 3, ending the race between the two, who served alongside each other in the California Assembly.

Galgiani was set to be sworn into her new office Monday, according to her campaign manager, Thomas Lawson.

With 281,119 votes cast for the pair, Galgiani finished 2,692 votes ahead of Berryhill overall and defeated him by 7,593 votes in San Joaquin County, according to the registrar’s website.

In addition to encompassing all of San Joaquin County, the 5th District includes small portions of Sacramento and Stanislaus counties, where Berryhill finished ahead of Galgiani.

Erdman’s announcement concludes a ballot count that included a dramatic swing in Galgiani’s favor.

Berryhill, who spent most of his life in Ceres and moved to Stockton for the Senate election, was ahead of Galgiani at the end of Election Day, Nov. 6. But Galgiani dominated throughout the rest of November as elections departments in the three counties counted provisional ballots.

The provisional ballots included vote-by-mail ballots taken in person to a polling place, voters who cast ballots in the incorrect precinct and others that were damaged.

• Ross Farrow is a reporter with the Lodi News-Sentinel.

• The Tracy Press' Jon Mendelson contributed to this report.