While some have projected the reelection of Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., Newsmax has yet to call the 22nd Congressional District race Saturday.
Valadao leads Democrat Rudy Salas by 4,547 votes (44,862-40,315) with 85,177 votes counted, more than a 5-point margin (52.67%-47.33%).
The difficulty to call the race comes due to California's mass mail-in balloting and legalized ballot harvesting laws.
It is one of just five races remaining to be called as Republican hold a 219-211 majority in the House thus far, as just 218 seats clinch the majority.
Among the five remaining races, Republicans lead three of them, including Valadao, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., headed for a state-mandated recount, and John Duarte, holding a razor-thin lead in California's newly redrawn 15th Congressional District.
If all three of the GOP leads hold, the GOP will hold a 222-213 majority come January.
Valadao was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in early 2021 after Trump left office. He was targeted in the GOP primary but remains one of only two of those 10 impeachment GOP seats still in Congress, if he wins.
Just one other remains in the House after these midterms: Rep. Dan Newhouse, D-Wash.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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