Dems flip California seat for 40 J Cox defeats California Rep. David Valadao, Democrats flip 40 in the House  Democrat TJ Cox widened his lead Wednesday over incumbent Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., enough for the race to be called in his favor.  The result solidifies the so-called "blue wave" that had been hyped up before the midterm elections. Democrats flipped 40 seats in the lower chamber -- their largest gains since the Watergate era; they only needed 23 to take command of the House next term.  Two days after Cox jumped ahead for the first time, resulting in the Associated Press and NBC News reversing their calls for Valadao, his lead grew from 0.40 percent to 0.46 percent.  https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/tj-cox-defeats-california-rep-david-valadao-democrats-flip-40-in-the-house  for the next two years the Democrats will be able to slow down or stifle the Trump agenda. Sucks.