The election results are starting to pour in as voters start to pick which candidates they want to send to Washington D.C. to represent them at the Federal level.
Here are the tallies for Orange County’s congressional races so far:
47th District
Democratic Rep. Katie Porter started election night with a big lead over former GOP Assembly Leader Scott Baugh, but it shrank to just 978 votes by the 11:30 p.m. update.
According to data from the OC Registrar of Voters, nearly 36% of the district’s 451,411 voters are registered Democrats, while 34% are Republican. Nearly a quarter of the district’s voters are No Party Preference.
The coastal district stretches from Seal Beach to Laguna Beach, with a portion of it stretching into Irvine.
45th District
The lead between Democrat Jay Chen and Rep. Michelle Steel, a Republican and former OC supervisor, switched back and forth in early counts but Steel pulled ahead in later counts and expanded her lead.
Steel was in the lead with 54.7% of the vote and Chen had 45.3% of the vote as of 12:06 a.m. p.m., according to the California Secretary of State’s website.
The district stretches from parts of Cerritos to Fullerton, Placentia and Brea, while dipping through Cypress and Buena Park and into Westminster and Garden Grove – the heart of Little Saigon.
FiveThirtyEight predicts Steel is “favored” to win the race, basically giving her a 75% chance – despite Democrats having a roughly 24,000-person edge in voter registration in a district that encompasses Little Saigon.
40th District
Republican Rep. Young Kim was in the lead with 53.9% of the vote as of 10:30 p.m. Democrat Asif Mahmood followed behind with about 46.9% of the 135,000 votes counted so far, according to initial counts.
According to election forecaster, FiveThirtyEight, Kim is “clearly favored” to win against Mahmood in a district that has Republicans about 20,000 registered voters ahead of Democrats.
The district stretches down the easternmost sections of Orange County – from Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda to Rancho Santa Margarita and Coto de Caza.
49th District
Democratic Rep. Mike Levin led with about 56.5% of the vote, according to initial results. Republican Bryan Maryott, a former San Juan Capistrano City Councilmember followed behind with 43.5% of the 142,154 votes counted so far.
In the 2020 election, Levin beat Maryott by more than 24,000 votes.
The district favors Democrats, who have 36% of the nearly 467,000 registered voters, compared to 33% for Republicans.
The district stretches from the southern tip of Orange County into San Diego County: from Ladera Ranch and Laguna Niguel down through Oceanside, Carlsbad and Encinitas into a small portion of Del Mar.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.