BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — On Monday, Congressman T.J. Cox conceded to David Valadao in the race for the 21st Congressional District. Last week the Associated Press announced Valadao had beat out incumbent Cox for his seat.
A statement from the Cox campaign said that the congressman had called Valadao to concede.
“Almost three years ago, I entered the race for California’s 21st District as an underdog. But we out-worked our opponent and pulled off the most stunning upset in Central Valley history," said Cox in a statement. "Unfortunately, this year due to the Coronavirus, we weren’t able to engage in door-to-door personal canvassing and the election results reflected that."
“I hope Mr. Valadao goes back to Washington humbled by his 2018 loss and has learned he can’t discount communities like Arvin, Lamont, and Mendota, places that went without visits from their congressional representative for years. I hope he will indeed deliver results for the Central Valley, which desperately needs a strong advocate in Washington,” the statement went on to say.
On December 1st, Valadao sat down with Jessica Harrington of 23ABC to talk about the election.
"Well, we knew it was going to be close from the very beginning. And if you look at the demographics of the district and if you look at the voter registration information it's a tough race," he said. "Obviously going against an incumbent is always difficult. And we knew it was going to be close. Getting closer to election day we were preparing for a much longer count. And it ended up being a long count and we ended up successful at the end."
Valadao added that he thinks people in the 21st District understand that he truly cares and wants to make a difference. He also added that he wants to focus on working with people on both sides of the aisle to get things done.
Two main issues Valadao says he's looking forward to working on is bringing water to the Central Valley and immigration reform.
