LOS ANGELES _ The election-night lead that Rep. David Valadao established over his Democratic challenger T.J. Cox has fallen to 930 votes, raising Republican fears that the party could lose a seventh California congressional seat.
The alarming news for the Republicans came Monday when the Kern County election registrar released the results of ballot-counting over the past eight days.
On election night, when Valadao had a 4,389-vote lead, the Associated Press projected that the Republican incumbent would win, but victory now appears uncertain.
California's 21st Congressional District, mainly farmland along Interstate 5 between Bakersfield and Fresno, is split among four counties. Cox holds a lopsided lead in Kern County, but Valadao remains ahead in Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties.
It is unclear how many of ballots remain uncounted. The four counties have told the state that they still have nearly 70,000 ballots to count. Many of them came from voters living outside the 21st District, so it's difficult to estimate Valadao's prospects for survival.
The Nov. 6 midterm election results have been dismal for Republicans in California. The party lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, leaving it with a tiny minority of the 53-seat delegation.
Democrats unseated Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham Democrats also won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa.
All six of those seats are in districts that voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao's is the only other California district that favored Clinton but is represented by a Republican in the House.
