The blue tsunami across America did not stop short of Orange County’s shores this year – it’s on track to sweep most of the county’s Republican state legislators and other top candidates out of office.
As of Thursday night’s updated ballot counts, Democrats were on track to take every state senate seat in the county and all but two of the state assembly seats, which survived in large part due to votes from the San Bernardino and Riverside County voters the districts crossed over to.
The tightest of those races comes in the coastal 72nd District, where Democrat Chris Kluwe narrowly pulled ahead of Republican Gracey Van Der Mark on Wednesday evening.
Santa Ana City Councilwoman Jessie Lopez is set
At the same time, Santa Ana City Councilwoman Jessie Lopez is set to represent the heart of OC at the State Assembly, beating out fellow Councilman David Penaloza in one of California’s most expensive races.
Penaloza conceded Wednesday night.
“As ballots continue to be counted, it’s clear that we won’t be pulling through in this race for State Assembly,” he wrote in an over 1,200-word concession statement on Facebook Wednesday.
“Over the last year, an unprecedented amount of outside money poured into our district. Millions of dollars from competing interests and independent expenditure committees, spending that NEITHER candidate controlled, unfortunately overshadowed and drowned what this campaign was always about.”
Democrats are also slated to hang onto
Democrats are also slated to hang onto the majority of OC Board of Supervisors this year, with incumbent Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento winning reelection back in May while Supervisor Katrina Foley is set to be reelected after her opponent conceded and Connor Traut, current mayor of Buena Park, on track to win a supervisor seat.
In Santa Ana, first-time candidate Dan Shimell, backed by a host of progressive groups, is on the brink of becoming slated to be the city’s next mayor after police union-backed incumbent Valerie Amezcua conceded the race this week.
Shimell is not the only progressive-backed candidate to win his election in Santa Ana.
In the three other city council races, progressive-backed candidates are leading against their police union-backed counterparts, beating out Councilman Phil Bacerra, a seven-year incumbent, in Ward 4 and Ward 6 candidate Giovanni Chavez who have both conceded.
Police union-backed candidates are not only losing in Santa Ana.
Across OC, law enforcement unions have spent hundreds
Across OC, law enforcement unions have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars opposing both Republican and Democratic candidates – many of whom are currently set to win their respective races.
In Irvine, incumbents are set to be reelected in the four districts listed on the ballot. Mayor Larry Agran is on track to be reelected, and Councilmembers Melinda Liu, Betty Martinez Franco and Kathleen Treseder were also leading their respective races.
Irvine is also set to get a new voting method for city council elections after residents approved a measure to transition the city to use ranked choice voting starting in 2028.
In Anaheim, a slate of incumbents are set
In Anaheim, a slate of incumbents are set to get reelected without much of a challenge, including Mayor Ashleigh Aitken amid allegations she drank on the job, called her Chief of Staff Berenice Ballinas a “dirty Mexican” and constantly questioned her sexuality.
Aitken denies using racist and homophobic slurs but has publicly admitted to struggling with alcoholism and going to rehab.
In Tustin, Democrat Letitia Clark was on track to unseat incumbent Republican Mayor Austin Lumbard.
A slate of sales and hotel tax increases
A slate of sales and hotel tax increases across the county are also poised to pass in Orange, Santa Ana, Westminster, Placentia and Los Alamitos.
While other cities pass tax increases, San Clemente’s second attempt to get an increased sales tax for sand replenishment is on track to fail. That measure was a citizen-led initiative that would have created a 1% sales tax increase — half the revenue would have been used for beach projects while the other half would have been for wildfire prevention.
While losing state legislature seats along the coast, Republicans managed to hang onto city council seats in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, with the latter still having a couple races that were tight Thursday evening.
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