447 votes separate Rep. David Valadao and challenger TJ Cox in the race for Congressional District 21

The midterm election may have been more than two weeks ago, but a race here in the Valley is still too close to call.

As of Friday afternoon, Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) now holds a narrow 447 vote lead over Democratic challenger TJ Cox in the race for Congressional District 21.

On election night, Valadao had a comfortable lead over Cox, but as more vote-by-mail and provisional ballots are counted, the gap between the two candidates has tightened.

There are still more vote counting to be done in the three-county district, Fresno County says that it still has 15,200 ballots remaining to be processed, Kings County still has 1,750 ballots, and Kern County has about 11,000 ballots. Although not all of those ballots are from this congressional district and some may be rejected.

County elections officials have until December 7, 2018, to submit their final vote totals and certify the election.