Mia Love of GOP takes the lead of the race at Utah House

Rep. Mia Love now leads Democratic challenger Ben McAdams, the count of votes continuing in a race in Utah too close to the call. (Associated Press)

An outgoing Republican Congressman from Utah topped her Democratic opponent by several hundred votes on Friday, earning her first advance in the House contest since polling day.

After the last count, Mia Love, 42, held in front of Democratic challenger and Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams with 419 votes, as expected, reported FOX13 Utah.

The two-term incumbent had already dragged McAdams Friday afternoon from 1,169 votes before the release of the latest figures from Utah County, the station reported.

McAdam's campaign described Utah County's results as "unsurprising", saying they followed previous electoral trends.

"We are optimistic that Ben McAdams will win another win on Monday," said Andrew Roberts, campaign manager for McAdams at the Salt Lake Tribune.

McAdams, confident about his victory, had spent last week in Washington attending the House's orientation meetings and even appearing on the first-year class photo, the newspaper reported.

The mayor of Salt Lake County, Ben McAdams, Democratic candidate for the 4th congressional district of Utah, addressed his supporters at an election night on November 6 in Salt Lake City. . (Associated Press)

Persistent doubts over the outcome of the vote did not stop President Trump from announcing his name to Love at a press conference last week in which he attacked other Republicans. Trump said that the love and the others had lost because they had not kissed her well.

"Love" did not show me any love, "Trump told the press.

But with thousands of provisional ballots still to be counted, the race at the headquarters of the 4th District remained tighter than ever.

Love, who became the first black Republican woman elected to Congress in 2014, maintains a 0.16% gap on McAdams, well within Utah's margin for a recount, which equates to 0.25%, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

"It's only the beginning of Mia's victory," said Dave Hansen, Love's campaign director. "We will continue to monitor the election results closely."

Earlier Friday, a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Love, who was seeking to block the vote count in Salt Lake County by challenging the County Clerk's verification of the signature, FOX reported.

Associated Press contributed to this report.