Amid a historic national blue wave, several candidates are in tight city council and mayoral races across North and Central OC – a county that is politically purple.
The close contest comes as just over one million ballots have been counted as of 5 p.m. Saturday, according to the Registrar of Voters.
There were an estimated 168,000 votes left to count as of Friday evening according to the registrar.
The next results update is expected Monday at 5 p.m.
A Look at Some of OC’s Closest Mayoral Races
Santa Ana
In Santa Ana, Progressive-backed, first time candidate and attorney Dan Shimell took the lead from police union-backed four year incumbent Valerie Amezcua in the Santa Ana Mayor’s race on Saturday night.
Instead, the lead flipped in favor of Shimell, who now stands at about 45% of the vote – up by 1,823 votes.
Amezcua now trails with about 42% of the vote.
Dwayne Shipp, a city commissioner, had roughly 13% of the 58,200 votes counted so far.
Westminster
In Westminster, Democrat-backed City Councilman Carlos Manzo was over 500 votes ahead of Incumbent Chi Charlie Nguyen in a crowded mayoral race in Saturday evening’s result update.
Nguyen was not endorsed by the Republican Party and had a failed bid for congress earlier this year.
As of Saturday, Manzo had just over 40% of the vote, Nguyen had under 38% of the vote and the three other candidates in the race collectively had around 22% of the vote. There were nearly 25,000 ballots counted in the race so far.
Nguyen had a roughly 2.5% lead at the start of Election Night that began to dwindle before flipping in Manzo’s favor in Thursday’s election results with the councilman taking the lead by two votes.
Manzo currently has a 2.4% lead over Nguyen.
Tustin
In Tustin, latest election results showed Democratic-backed former Mayor Letitia Clark was narrowly holding onto her lead over Republican backed incumbent Austin Lumbard.
Over 19,700 ballots have been counted so far in that race — Clark was leading with about 51% of the vote, while Lumbard had about 49% of the vote. There’s a gap of 337 votes between the two, up from 221 on Friday.
At the start of Election Night, Clark held a narrow lead that slimmed down to a difference of eight votes before flipping in Lumbard’s favor. The lead flipped back to Clark in Thursday’s update.
The Closest City Council Contests
Irvine
In Irvine, Democratic backed District 1 incumbent Melinda Liu was narrowly holding onto her lead with about 39.8% of the vote, while Republican backed OC Food Bank Board Member John Park was trailing with about 38.4% of the vote.
There’s a gap of 174 votes between the two and nearly 12,200 votes have been counted so far in the race.
Former City Councilmember and Mayor Sukhee Kang remained in third place with under 21.8% of the vote.
At the start of Election Night, Liu led the race before it flipped in Park’s favor. In Thursday’s election results update, the lead flipped back to Liu.
Fullerton
In Fullerton, Planning Commissioner Oscar Valadez held a 34 vote lead in the District 5 City Council race against Democrat-backed Jozef Maldonado, a chemist.
Valadez held about 42.7% in Saturday’s election results update while Maldonado trailed behind with about 42.1% of the vote. Over 6,400 votes have been counted in the race so far.
David Fischbein, a quality assurance inspector, had about 15% of the vote.
Valadez is a registered Democrat. The Republican Party didn’t endorse any candidate in the race.
At the start of Election Night, Valadez held a 0.16% – 5 vote – lead ahead of Maldonado which expanded to a nearly 5% lead early Wednesday morning. That lead has since dwindled down to roughly 0.5% by Friday’s count.
Costa Mesa
In Costa Mesa, Republican-backed Daniel Morgan, a managing principal at a real estate company, was narrowly leading the District 3 City Council race by 38 votes.
In Saturday’s update, Morgan had about 50.4% of the vote while Democrat-backed Cara Stewart, founder of a public relations firm and former OC Register reporter, trailed behind with about 49.6% of the vote.
Morgan’s initial roughly 4.4% lead on election night has dwindled down to a 0.74% lead.
There have been 4,850 ballots counted so far.
Lake Forest
In Lake Forest, Democrat-backed Amy Stevens, a communications consultant, had an 81-vote lead in the District 4 City Council race against Republican-backed Shari Rhodes, a business owner.
In Saturday’s update, Stevens had about 50.7% of the vote while Rhodes had about 49.3% of the vote. Over 5,400 votes have been counted so far.
At the start of Election Night, Stevens had a 5.8% lead that flipped in Rhodes favor later in the night. Stevens retook the lead in Thursday’s election results update and now holds a 1.4% lead over Rhodes.
Cypress
In Cypress, Democrat-backed Helen Le, who lists herself as a community volunteer, was slightly leading the District 2 City Council race by 12 votes in Saturday’s results update.
Le had about 50.3% of the vote while Republican-backed Incumbent Bonnie Peat trailed behind with about 49.7%. Over 1,900 votes have been counted in the race.
The Democrat-backed candidate had an 2.68% lead at the start of election night before the lead flipped in Peat’s favor. It flipped back to Le in Friday’s update with her holding about 0.62% lead.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him athelattar@voiceofoc.org.
Voice of OC is Orange County‘s nonprofit newsroom. We rely on donations from people like you to sustain our news agency. Please make a contribution today: https://voiceofoc.org/donate
