Republican Steve Poizner called Democratic opponent Ira Ruskin shortly before 1 p.m. today and conceded their close election for the 21st state Assembly District seat. “I congratulated him for a hard-fought campaign,” Poizner told reporters outside of his Los Altos campaign headquarters.

“Personally, I plan to continue in public service,” Poizner said, adding that it is too early to tell if he will run for public office again. The former high-tech company founder spent about $6 million of his own money in his first bid for elected office.

With thousands of ballots still left to be counted, Poizner said “the voting trend is not changing,” which is why he conceded.

But he noted that in a district with 31 percent Republican voter registration, he won about 48 percent of the vote.

“Unfortunately, we came up a little short,” he said, noting that many Democrats and independents voted for him.

He vowed to remain interested in education reform, in ethics in politics, and in reforming the redistricting process which carves out “safe” seats for both Republicans and Democrats in California. “We need redistricting reform to take it out of the hands of the politicians,” he said. “I will work for that.”