Valadao initially had a significant lead over his opponent—around 4,400 votes on Nov. 6. However, his advantage declined gradually as election officials counted mail-in and provisional ballots.
Based on the election results, Cox gained 50.2 percent or 56,634 votes while Valadao obtained 49.8 percent or 56,105 votes. The Democrat won by 529 votes.
Since 2012, Valadao represented the state’s 21st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats have been targeting to district, which has a large population of Hispanic voters (71 percent). During the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton carried the district by more than 15 percent.
An official declaration of Cox’s victory will mean the Democratic Party flipped seven seats held by Republicans in the state. Therefore, the Party gained a total of 40 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives this midterm elections.
