Democratic candidate Katie Porter, who has been gaining as ballots continue to be counted, pulled ahead of Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine) by less than one percentage point Tuesday in the 45th Congressional District, marking the third of four Republican-held congressional races with Democrats now in the lead.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, who apparently has lost re-election to Supervisor Todd Spitzer, announced Tuesday evening the DA’s office will be transitioning to “the new administration.”
“In the coming weeks, the Office will be working with the new administration to transition the operations in a smooth and efficient manner,” Rackauckas said in a statement.
But the statement doesn’t mean Rackauckas conceded the election to Spitzer, according to DA spokeswoman, Michelle Van Der Linden.
“The statement is a standalone statement. Nothing else to be implied,” said Van Der Linden.
She followed up to suggest contacting Rackauckas’ campaign about his status. The campaign representatives didn’t return phone messages.
In the contested 39th Congressional District, Democrat Gil Cisneros continued to gain ground on Republican Young Kim, whose lead shrank from 1.1 percentage points Monday to 0.4 points Tuesday. The initial election night results had Kim leading by 10.6 percent, which continually narrowed as more ballots are counted.
In the contested 45th Congressional District, Walters was up by 5.4 percentage points in the initial election night results, and Porter has been gaining ground. Porter had a 0.2-point lead in Tuesday’s update, and was on track to flip the district from Republican to Democrat if the trend holds.
As of Tuesday evening’s 5 p.m. update, about 76 percent of all estimated ballots have been counted and reported, according to the county Registrar of Voters office.
The update added 41,295 ballots to the tallies, with an estimated 261,600 ballots left to count.
At the rate ballots have been counted, it will take at least another week or two, if not longer, to count and report the remaining ballots.
Walters, who tried to distance herself from President Donald Trump during the campaign and rallied against the state’s 12-cent gas tax, first took office in 2014 by a 30-point margin and was easily reelected in 2016 by a 17-point margin.
Thousands of mail-in ballots sent to the Registrar on election day arrived in the days after the election, according to county officials. State law allowed mail-in ballots to arrive as late as 8 p.m. Friday and still be counted, as long as they were postmarked no later than Election Day.
Below is a run-down of updated vote counts in some of the county’s key races. Daily 5 p.m. updates are scheduled over the coming days.
Congressional Races
39th Congressional District
Young Kim (R): 93,452 votes, 50.2%
Gil Cisneros (D): 92,741 votes, 49.8%
Kim’s lead fell from 1.1 percentage points to 0.4 points since the prior day’s update. Updated figures are calculated based on vote counts from Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
45th Congressional District
Katie Porter (D): 116,732 votes, 50.1%
Mimi Walters (R, Incumbent): 116,471 votes, 49.9%
Porter took the lead in Tuesday’s update, and was ahead of Walters by 0.2 percentage points.
48th Congressional District
Harley Rouda (D): 118,210 votes, 52.3%
Dana Rohrabacher (R, Incumbent): 107,612 votes, 47.7%
Rouda’s lead over Rohrabacher increased slightly from 4.4 points to 4.6 points since the prior day’s update.
49th Congressional District
Mike Levin (D): 123,328 votes, 55.0%
Diane Harkey (R): 101,048 votes, 45.0%
Levin’s lead grew from 9.8 points to 10 points since the prior day’s update. Updated figures are calculated based on vote counts reported from Orange and San Diego counties.
State-Level Races
65th State Assembly
Sharon Quirk-Silva (D, Incumbent): 53,808 votes, 54.9%
Alexandria “Alex” Coronado (R): 44,209 votes, 45.1%
Quirk-Silva’s lead increased from 8.8 percentage points to 9.8 points since the prior day’s update.
74th State Assembly
Cottie Petrie-Norris (D): 77,094 votes, 51.1%
Matthew Harper (R, Incumbent): 73,664 votes, 48.9%
Harper was ahead on election night, but Petrie-Norris pulled ahead Thursday with a 0.4 percentage-point lead, which increased to a 2.2 point lead with Tuesday’s update.
County-Level Races
Fourth District Supervisor
Tim Shaw (R): 56,758 votes, 50.3%
Doug Chaffee (D): 56,139 votes, 49.7%
Shaw’s lead narrowed slightly since the prior day’s update, from 1.0 points to 0.6 points.
District Attorney
Todd Spitzer (R): 370,136 votes, 53.3%
Tony Rackauckas (R, Incumbent): 324,904 votes, 46.7%
Spitzer’s significant lead grew slightly in the latest update, from 6.4 points to 6.6 points.
Sheriff-Coroner
Don Barnes (R): 398,469 votes, 55.8%
Duke Nguyen (D): 316,176 votes, 44.2%
Barnes continued to have a significant lead, which stood at 11.6 percentage points with the latest update. Duke Nguyen conceded this race the day after Election Day.
City Races
This list only shows the top vote-getters. View results for all the candidates on the Registrar of Voters website.
Anaheim Mayor
Harry Sidhu: 20,834 votes, 34.6%
Ashleigh Aitken: 18,626 votes, 31.0%
Sidhu’s lead narrowed in the latest update, from 4.7 percentage points to 3.6 points.
Anaheim City Council, District 2
Jordan Brandman: 3,357 votes, 40.8%
James Derek Vanderbilt: 2,532 votes, 30.7%
Brandman continues to have a significant lead, which stood at 10.1 points in Tuesday’s update.
Anaheim City Council, District 3
Jose F. Moreno (Incumbent): 4,280 votes, 52.4%
Mitch Caldwell: 2,604 votes, 31.9%
Moreno continues to have a significant lead, which stood at 20.5 points in Tuesday’s update.
Anaheim City Council, District 6
Trevor O’Neil: 8,383 votes, 45.8%
Patty Gaby: 6,346 votes, 34.7%
O’Neil continues to have a significant lead, which stood at 11.1 points in Tuesday’s update.
Anaheim Measure L
Yes: 31,890, 51.9%
No: 29,554 votes, 48.1%
The measure gained slightly in the latest update, going from a 3.0 percentage point lead to 3.8 points.
Santa Ana Mayor
Miguel Pulido (Incumbent): 19,676 votes, 51.9%
Sal Tinajero: 18,216 votes, 48.1%
Pulido’s lead narrowed slightly, from 4.4 percentage points to 3.8 points, since the prior day’s update.
Santa Ana City Council, Ward 2
David Penaloza: 10,121 votes, 27.9%
Sandra Pena Sarmiento: 7,153 votes, 19.7%
Penaloza continued to have a wide lead, which stood at 8.2 percent in Tuesday’s update, the same as the prior day’s update.
Santa Ana City Council, Ward 4
Roman Reyna: 19,565 votes, 54.1%
Phil Bacerra: 16,580 votes, 45.9%
Reyna’s wide lead grew slightly from the prior day’s update, from 8.0 percentage points to 8.2 points.
Santa Ana City Council, Ward 6
Cecilia “Ceci” Iglesias: 14,419 votes, 39.5%
Nelida Medoza: 11,965 votes, 32.8%
Iglesias’ wide lead narrowed slightly from the prior update on Saturday, from 6.9 percentage points to 6.7 points.
Update: This article has been updated to add the DA’s spokeswoman, Michelle Van Der Linden, followed up to suggest contacting Rackauckas’ campaign about his status, and that the campaign representatives didn’t return phone messages.