California’s 21st Congressional District is Anything but Called

With most races long finished throughout the state, one remains to be called as Democrat TJ Cox is less than 1,000 votes behind Republican incumbent David Valadao.

The race, a battle over parts of Kern, Fresno and Tulare counties, is to represent California’s 21st Congressional District where 3-term incumbent Valadao has found himself in quite the quarrel.

This race has been vastly overlooked by many as it was mistakenly called by many prominent organizations just days after the election. Despite this notion, “FiveThirtyEight predicted about half of Kern County’s remaining ballots were counted in Monday’s update. It estimated that about 11,000 uncounted ballots remain in the 21st: 4,900 from Fresno County, 2,800 from Kern, 2,900 from Kings and 800 from Tulare. If the trends continue, the final margin could be within 100 votes, FiveThirtyEight said,” the Fresno Bee reported.

Yesterday, Valadao’s lead was measured at 2,178 votes, however new tallies out of Kern County on have dramatically boosted Cox’s margin by 1,248 votes. Currently he lays just 930 votes behind the Republican.

Following the new numbers, Cox released a statement saying “update: We are now within 1% and on track to win! While we were counted out, voters resonated with our message of expanding access to health care, creating good jobs, and fighting for families here in the Central Valley. Still many votes left to be counted.”

UPDATE: We are now within 1% and on track to win!

While we were counted out, voters resonated with our message of expanding access to health care, creating good jobs, and fighting for families here in the Central Valley.

Still many votes left to be counted. #CA21 pic.twitter.com/IKtC1wBv4z

— TJ Cox (@TJCoxCongress) November 20, 2018

Although Kern and Tulare counties heavily favored Hilary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential election, this indicator may not help to forecast a winner. In fact, this race could take as long as another week to get a final tally.

The Fresno Bee notes “Fresno County has 30,000 total uncounted ballots. Kings has about 2,300, and Tulare has a little over 18,000.”