Republican Mia Love pulls ahead in Utah House race after Trump knocked her for losing


Washington (CNN)Two-term Republican Rep. Mia Love on Friday took the lead over her Democratic challenger in Utah's 4th District House race more than a week after election night and after President Donald Trump mocked her for losing.

Love leads Democrat Ben McAdams by 419 votes as of Friday evening, CNN results show, giving the congresswoman 50.1% of the vote -- a slim margin above McAdams at 49.9% as votes continue to be counted.

The shift in votes marks the first time Love has held a lead over McAdams since election night on November 6, when the race was deemed too close to call.

Despite the slim margin and the fact that votes were still being counted, Trump declared in a news conference the day after the election that Love had lost the race and attacked the congresswoman for not embracing him as a campaigner.

"You had some that decided to, 'Let's stay away. Let's stay away.' They did very poorly," he said of the House Republican candidates who didn't embrace him. "I'm not sure that I should be happy or sad, but I feel just fine about it."

Love has repeatedly distanced herself from Trump on different issues, including rebuking the President's comments to Axios in October that he was targeting birthright citizenship with an executive order.

Last edited by Goose (11/17/2018 5:46 am)