Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) speaks with supporters during an election night party on Nov. 6. With 68 percent of precincts reporting results, the race is still undecided. (Associated Press).
After a close election, it’s still not clear who won Utah's Congressional 4th District race.
GOP incumbent Rep. Mia Love is currently the only black Republican woman in Congress. She has served since January 2015. Ben McAdams, her Democratic challenger, currently serves as Salt Lake County Mayor and is a former state senator.
The polls are closed, but the race is close enough that it will not be decided until the incoming vote-by-mail ballots are counted and several precincts with unexpectedly high turnout report their results, the Utah County Clerk's office told the Daily Herald.
As of 9 a.m. on Nov. 7, McAdams holds a narrow lead of 2.6 points over Love. With 68 percent of votes counted, 51.3 percent of the votes are for McAdams, and 48.7 percent are for Love, reported The New York Times.
“My gut tells me we’re going to pull this out,” Love said to KSL. “I'm optimistic about it, but I am certainly going to wait until we get all those numbers in before we do anything.”
“I have to say, it’s not over,” McAdams told supporters at an election night party at 10:30 p.m on Tuesday night, reported the Deseret News. “But everything is looking good.”
Both campaigns say the outcome might not be determined for several days, reported the Deseret News.
Most of the votes yet to be counted come from the Utah County area. Several precincts in Utah County are expected to report vote totals on Friday, according to Deseret News.
Though McAdams enjoys a slight lead, votes from a more historically red Utah County could tip the race in favor of Mia Love, reported the Deseret News.
“We’re seeing about 74–75 percent of Utah County’s votes going our way,” Love told The Salt Lake Tribune. “This is really good news.”
Utah County Clerk Bryan Thompson said one reason votes have not yet been reported was simply because of the high level of voter turnout. He told the Daily Herald more Utah County voters participated in this midterm election than he has ever seen during his 12 years as county clerk.
Thompson said another complication was that a high number of voters chose to register and vote in-person at local polling places, rather than registering earlier and voting by mail.
“We’ve got lots and lots of people that decided they wanted to register to vote today,” he told the Daily Herald. “That’s good, but it sure creates some lines.”
According to a recent poll conducted by the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune, each candidate had the support of 46 percent of voters — an exact tie.
In a press conference this morning, President Donald Trump called out Mia Love and the Utah's Congressional 4th District race.
'Mia Love gave me no love, and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that Mia,' Trump said.
This story will be updated.