As vote counting in the midterms continues, four Orange County legislative races with GOP incumbents or long-held Republican seats remain tight as of Thursday afternoon, Nov. 5.
In California’s 36th Senate District, Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, continued to trail former San Clemente Mayor Chris Duncan, a Democrat, according to the latest preliminary results posted by the secretary of state at 5 p.m.
Duncan’s lead widened on Thursday. He has received 50.6% of the vote so far to Strickland’s 49.4%, a lead of 3,739 votes.
In a statement Wednesday, Duncan said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the latest results, despite it being too close to call.
“This election is a complete and total repudiation of Donald Trump and Tony Strickland’s divisive politics that have pitted Californians against one another,” he said. “The future is bright, and I look forward to helping bring back the California Dream and returning our state to its rightful place as the greatest state in the Union.”
Strickland, who is seeking a full term after being tapped by voters in a 2025 special election to represent the district, did not respond to requests for comment.
The 36th Senate District — which spans Orange and Los Angeles counties and includes Cerritos, Garden Grove, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and San Clemente — has been represented by a Republican for over three uninterrupted decades.
According to the latest voter registration statistics from the secretary of state’s office, registered Republicans make up 36.77% (239,361), registered Democrats make up 33.51% (218,109), and no party preference voters account for 23.09% (150,327) of the electorate.
Assembly District 70
Over in Assembly District 70, only about 600 votes separate the candidates.
In the Orange County district that includes Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Garden Grove, Westminster and Fountain Valley, Assemblymember Tri Ta, R-Westminster, was leading with 50.3% of the vote, as of 5 p.m. The latest tally had Ta only 616 votes ahead of Democrat Paula Swift, who is sitting at 49.7%.
Ta, who is seeking a third term after first being elected in 2022, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Swift, a Seal Beach small business owner, said in a statement that while the race is still too close to call, the results so far show “a direct repudiation of the current administration’s policy of cruelty.”
Before Ta won, Democrats held the seat from 2012 until 2022, beginning when Bonnie Lowenthal was elected, followed by Democrat Patrick O’Donnell from 2014 to 2022. Before Lowenthal’s term, however, Republicans held the seat for decades.
Registered Democrats account for 36.09% (99,896) of all voters in the district, while registered Republicans account for 32.98% (91,304). No party preference voters make up 24.9% (68,938) of the electorate, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Assembly District 72
Meanwhile, Republican Gracey Van Der Mark and Democrat Chris Kluwe remain locked in the tight race for the open Assembly District 72 seat.
Van Der Mark, as of Thursday, has received 50.5% of the vote — leading by 1,641 votes — to Kluwe’s 49.5%.
Voters in the district — which includes Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Woods and Lake Forest — have consistently tapped Republicans over the years to represent them. The last Democrat elected to the post was Sen. Tom Umberg in 1990, who is leading in his Board of Equalization District 4 race this year. Umberg served one term.
Van Der Mark, who is a member of Huntington Beach’s City Council, did not respond to requests for comment.
Kluwe, though, said he expected a “really strong early showing” when returns first came out Tuesday night after the polls closed, and was happy to see that was the case.
“We knew that there was going to be a significant bounce-back from the in-person voters, because those tend to skew heavily Republican, and so now we’ve got to wait for the mail-in ballots to get counted,” Kluwe, a former NFL player, said. “We’re hopeful that those are going to go our way, because traditionally those tend to skew Democratic.”
Kluwe said the close results show that voters want a representative in Sacramento who “is going to actually make the government actually work for them,” regardless of political party. Voters connected with his campaign’s prioritization of mitigating climate issues and coastal erosion the most, he said, “because it’s materially affecting their lives.”
Registered Republicans account for 39.19% (135,017) of voters in the district, while Democrats account for 32.09% (110,633). No party preference voters make up 21.62% (74,553) of the electorate, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Assembly District 74
The contest in Assembly District 74 — which spans Orange and San Diego counties and includes Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente — was also close.
As of Thursday at 5 p.m., Assemblymember Laurie Davies, R-Laguna Niguel, maintained a lead of 1,519 votes, so far receiving 50.5% to Democrat Sergio Farias‘ 49.5%.
Davies, who is seeking a third term, first flipped the seat red in 2022. Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris held the seat from 2018 to 2022, until redistricting changed the area she still represents.
Davies, on Thursday, said she isn’t surprised her race is so close. The past two elections in which she ran for this office followed a similar trend, she said.
“I usually don’t look that much in the beginning, because things can change,” Davies said. “Every election, you don’t know how people are voting. Some elections, everyone’s going to vote early, or they’re going to wait until Election Day.
“I’ve learned to be patient and not to get excited and just know that this district is going to take a while for it to balance out,” she said.
Farias, a San Clemente City Council member, said he was surprised and encouraged Tuesday night to see that he initially jumped out with a slight lead when returns first came in. Farias thought he “would be five percentage points behind on the first drop,” he said Thursday.
Affordability was a major way to connect with voters leading up to Election Day, he said.
“Voters were voting like their financial futures depended on it,” Farias said.
“At the end of the day, I think it just shows the frustration of the 74th Assembly District, especially when it comes to affordability,” Farias said. “There’s a sentiment of: ‘Get out of the way if you’re not going to do anything.’”
Davies, too, found that affordability was the top issue for voters she met on the campaign trail.
“The bottom line is, this state is one of the highest-taxed states, the price of gas is $2 more than in any other state,” she said. “We listen to our voters, and we’re out there doing whatever we possibly can.”
“It’s their voice we’re representing, and we take that very seriously,” Davies said.
According to the secretary of state’s office, registered Democrats account for 34.75% (108,832) of all voters, while registered Republicans account for 34.65% (108,495). No party preference voters make up 22.09% (69,183) of the electorate.
