A host of congressional races, two OC Supervisor races, three county board of education races, a recall, a state proposition and a series of local measures are all on the ballot for the March 5th primary election in Orange County.
Mail-in ballots have been sent out to 1.8 million registered voters across Orange County and the first day of the mail-in voting process started on Feb. 5.
[Read: Vote-By-Mail Opens Today for Orange County Voters]
Drop boxes are open 24/7 and end on election day — March 5 at 8 p.m.
Click here to find a drop box location near you.
All Voter Centers will be open across the county starting March 2 for in person voting, with some select centers opening on Feb. 24.
Click here to find a voting center location near you.
Residents can also send their ballot through the U.S. Postal Service with no postage required.
Ballots must be postmarked and signed by March 5 to be accepted and counted.
Click here to find a USPS post office or mailbox near you.
Below is a summary of the key races and initiatives on the March 5 ballot:
OC’s Competitive Congressional Races
Orange County voters will also decide on a host of congressional candidates to send to the November General Election.
The top two vote-getters in each of Orange County’s congressional districts will run against each other this upcoming November.
Here’s a look at Orange County’s most competitive U.S. House races.
47th District
A host of candidates are looking to take over the U.S. House seat after Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) decided to run for California’s open U.S. Senate spot.
[Read: Orange County’s Most Competitive Congressional Races]
The candidates who’ve fundraised the most are State Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine), former Assemblyman and former county GOP chair Scott Baugh, and Joanna Weiss, a Democrat and founder of the Women for American Values and Ethics (WAVE) local activist group.
As of Thursday, voter registration is nearly even in the 47th District, with Democrats having a slight edge at 4,000 more registered voters than Republicans. No party preference voters – who helped flip Orange County’s congressional seats in 2018 – make up nearly a quarter of voters.
45th District
Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Seal Beach) is looking to defend her seat against a host of Democratic challengers this election season in a district where Democrats have a voter registration advantage over Republicans – at roughly 25,000 voters.
Democratic candidates Cheyenne Hunt, a social media influencer and former clerk for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Garden Grove Councilwoman Kim Nguyen-Penaloza; and personal injury attorney Derek Tran are looking to unseat Steel.
Orange County Supervisors
First District
One of the most competitive races in the county this year is focused on the county’s northwest supervisor seat, which will see a new representative for the first time in eight years as Andrew Do leaves office due to term limits.
The winner will represent cities including Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach and Westminster.
Two Republicans are leading the candidates in fundraising: State Senator Janet Nguyen and former State Assemblyman Van Tran, who also serves as Do’s chief of staff. The two have collectively spent over half a million dollars on their campaigns as they grapple for the seat.
Nguyen used to sit on the county board of supervisors, and faced a lot of questions about her handling of CalOptima, the county’s health plan for the poor, after a grand jury investigation found she oversaw dozens of top executives leaving.
She also faced an investigation from the OC District Attorney’s office over whether she improperly took campaign donations from the medical industry while she sat on CalOptima’s board, but was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.
She’s running with the county Republican Party’s backing.
Tran is leading his campaign with a focus on improving the county’s homelessness response and has advertised himself as tough on illegal immigration, despite county supervisors having no control over the border.
He carries Do’s endorsement but was not endorsed by the county party.
Cypress City Councilwoman Frances Marquez, the lone Democrat in the race and a former staff member for former Congressman Alan Lowenthal, is running on a platform saying she wants to boost transparency.
So far, she’s spent around $38,000 on her campaign.
Former Fountain Valley Mayor Michael Vo is also running for the seat in a largely self-funded campaign, saying he hopes to cut taxes and support local businesses.
Westminster City Councilwoman Kimberly Ho is on the ballot, but does not have a campaign website and has reported zero campaign fundraising or spending.
[Read: Open Northwest Orange County Supervisor Seat Sees Packed Primary]
Third District
County Supervisor Don Wagner is running to keep his seat against a challenge from Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan in a race that will determine who represents much of east Orange County.
The winner will take over as representative for Irvine, Lake Forest, Tustin, Orange, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Yorba Linda, the Anaheim Hills neighborhood and other unincorporated areas like the county canyons in the third supervisor district.
The race is also likely to be decided in the primary because if either candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, it won’t go to a runoff election in November.
Wagner has held the seat since he won it in a 2019 special election, and was one of the leading voices to help approve a veterans cemetery in Gypsum Canyon, and has said he wants to refocus the county’s homeless prevention away from a “housing first,” model moving forward, and instead focus on teaching people how to live in homes once they get them.
He was also one of the loudest critics of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 shutdowns, repeatedly calling for the county to reopen at a faster rate than the governor’s office allowed.
Khan has been Irvine’s mayor since 2020 and has highlighted her experience leading the city through COVID-19 and her goals to review and change how the county spends on homelessness for her campaign.
But her term as mayor has faced some major hurdles, with the biggest coming after her campaign manager and top advisor Melahat Rafiei pleaded guilty to attempted wire fraud last year and admitted she tried to bribe two Irvine City Council members before Khan was elected to the council.
[Read: Eastern OC Supervisors Election Could Get Decided in March Primary]
Orange County Board of Education
Three Democrat-backed challengers are facing off against three Republican-backed incumbents trying to maintain a majority of the seats on the Orange County Board of Education in races that could impact the growth of local charter schools.
All three challengers are also backed by the California Teachers Association.
The County Board of Education oversees the OC Department of Education’s budget and charter school applications, but has no say over curriculum at other local school districts across OC.
In recent years, the Republican majority has sparked controversy by hosting panels on state ethnic studies requirements and recommending schools reopen without mask mandates or social distancing during the height of the pandemic.
They also unsuccessfully sued Newsom for school closures during the pandemic and against mask mandates.
[Read: Voters to Decide Who Sits on The Orange County Board of Education]
Trustee Area 1
Republican-backed incumbent Jorge Valdes is facing off against Democrat-endorsed candidate Beatriz Mendoza to represent voters in Central OC – an area that includes Tustin, Anaheim and Santa Ana – on the County Board of Education.
Valdes was appointed to his seat after Beckie Gomez resigned from the position in 2022.
According to campaign finance disclosures, Valdes has raised over $53,000 for his campaign as of Jan. 20, with $20,000 coming from the Orange County Charter Advocates for Great Public Schools PAC and $11,000 from the Charter Public Schools PAC.
According to campaign finance disclosures, Mendoza raised close to $24,000 for her campaign as of Jan. 20, with $3,000 from the Women For American Values and Ethics Political Action Committee and over $2,000 from the Women in Leadership Political Action Committee.
Trustee Area 3
OC Democrat Party-backed challenger and director of Cal State Fullerton’s education doctoral program Nancy Watkins is running against OC Republican Party-endorsed candidate Ken Williams to represent voters in Eastern OC which stretches from the county line in Brea down to Irvine.
As of Jan. 20, Watkins raised nearly $77,000 for her campaign, with $3,000 from the Women For American Values and Ethics Political Action Committee and over $2,000 from the Women in Leadership Political Action Committee.
Williams has raised over $38,000 for his campaign as of Jan. 20 with $20,000 coming from the Orange County Charter Advocates for Great Public Schools PAC and $10,000 from the Charter Public Schools PAC.
Williams has recently been accused of attacking a 20-year-old in a lawsuit filed last month.
Court files describe that Williams was driving down a residential road in March 2023 when Caden O’Malley approached in his vehicle from behind. Williams allegedly slammed on his brakes multiple times in front of O’Malley’s, causing them both to exit their vehicles.
When O’Malley approached Williams’ Escalade to take a picture of the license plate, Williams allegedly rushed at him, threw him to the ground, climbed on top of him and started choking him while O’Malley pleaded for him to stop.
[Read: OC Board of Education Incumbent Accused of Assault and Battery in Road Rage Incident]
Trustee Area 4
In North OC – an area that stretches from La Habra down to Westminster, Republican incumbent Tim Shaw is running against Democrat David Johnson – who sits on the Westminster School District Board of Trustees.
Shaw has raised over $50,000 for his campaign as of Jan. 20, with $20,000 coming from the Orange County Charter Advocates for Great Public Schools PAC and $11,000 from the Charter Public Schools PAC.
Johnson has raised close to $13,000 for his campaign as of Jan. 20 with $3,000 from the Women For American Values and Ethics Political Action committee and $2,200 from Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties’ Community Action Fund PAC.
Orange County’s Superior Court Judges
About three dozen OC Superior Court judge candidates already won their races ahead of the primary election.
Apparently, because no one showed up to run against them, a total of 33 judges just won the election automatically.
[Read: Santana: Finding The Real Judges of OC]
There’s another three that are contested, with deputy district attorneys – probably the most common previous job held by current OC Superior Court judges – running in each one.
Office 3 pits Deputy District Attorney Jason Baez against Dan Jacobson.
Office 16 features Binh Dang against Deputy District Attorney Richard Zimmer.
Office 35 has Whitney Bokosky, a deputy District Attorney, running against Daniel Kern, a family law attorney.
Irvine’s Measure D: Establishing Council Districts
Irvine voters are set to vote on a charter amendment that would add two extra city council members and create election districts in the city.
If approved, the measure would increase the city council from five members to seven. It would also create six districts for council elections moving forward.
Irvine currently elects council members using an at-large election system. In these elections, residents can vote for as many candidates as open seats.
But the measure would change the city to a by-district election system.
That means voters would only be able to vote for the council member who is running in their district. Under district elections, candidates can only run in the district that they live in.
If the measure is approved, there would be six council members representing each of the six districts. All Irvine residents would still be able to vote for the mayor.
[Read: Irvine Voters to Decide on Changing City’s Election System]
Huntington Beach Charter Amendments
While no city council members are on the March ballot, Huntington Beach residents are about to get their first chance to weigh in on their new council majority’s proposals.
Voters will have three separate ballot measures to decide on, all of which were put up by the council’s Republican majority after hotly contested public meetings on a series of issues.
Measure A would let the city introduce new requirements for voter ID at local polling places, and require the city to monitor ballot boxes and open more polling places.
It’s unclear if the OC Registrar of Voters, which currently runs the city’s election, would continue running their elections under those new rules, and there is no evidence of voter fraud in the city.
Measure B would make it harder for city leaders to fly ceremonial flags, limiting the official city flagpoles to hoisting the US flag, the city flag, the prisoner of war flag, Olympic flags, and flags for government bodies like the state, city and military.
The fight comes after city leaders took down the Pride flag, insisting it didn’t represent the city as a whole.
Measure C introduces a whole host of changes to the city’s operations, including moving to a two-year budget and making it possible for the mayor to cancel city council meetings unilaterally.
[Read: Huntington Beach Voters to Decide on Voter ID and Flags]
Westminster’s Measure E: Sales Tax Raise
Westminster voters will decide on whether to raise the city’s sales tax again – this time by 0.5%, which would raise the city’s overall sales tax rate to 9.25%.
[Read: Will Westminster Voters Raise Taxes Again?]
It comes as the city’s been grappling with stagnate tax revenues in recent years, while also grappling with a budget deficit.
The city’s currently facing a $9 million budget gap.
The measure includes funding to maintain city staff, police and fire services, emergency responses and upkeep in public spaces like parks.
The Police Narcotics, Domestic Violence, Sex Crimes and Human Trafficking units at the department are at risk of being eliminated without increased city funds.
If passed, Measure E would allow the city to continue allotting taxpayer dollars for annual independent financial audits and independent citizen’s oversight committee.
Orange Unified School District Recall
Voters in the Orange Unified School District will decide if they want to remove school board trustees Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner from office next month.
[Read: Two Orange Unified School Board Members Face March Recall Election]
A group of parents, teachers and community members launched efforts to start a recall election against the two trustees after the board called a special meeting in January 2023 to abruptly fire Superintendent Gunn Marie Hansen.
The recall comes after the school board, with support from Ledesma and Miner, took up a host of contentious issues in the past year including a controversial transgender notification policy, temporarily suspending their digital library over concerns of age-inappropriate books and banning the flying on LGBTQ+ flag on district flagpoles.
Proponents say the two trustees are dragging culture wars into the classroom, wasting taxpayer money and not putting students first.
Ledesma, Miner and critics say the recall is a “thinly veiled assault on parental rights.”
State Proposition 1
Voters across the Golden State will decide in March if they want to approve State Proposition 1 – a $6.4 billion bond and measure to shift tax dollars aimed at treating mental health issues and addiction towards building more affordable housing.
The statewide ballot measure comes before voters as California legislators struggle to address homelessness and the housing unaffordability crisis. And as the state grapples with a large deficit.
Proponents argue the proposition will expand mental health services, help homeless vets and create more permanent supportive housing.
Critics say Prop. 1 will allow state officials in Sacramento to take more mental health tax dollars split by California and county governments and force local leaders to spend more of those dollars on housing, which could slash funding for mental health programs.
[Read: Will California’s Prop 1 Help Curb Homelessness or Cut Mental Health Programs?]
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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.
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
Hugo Rios is a Voice of OC intern. Contact him at hugo.toni.rios@gmail.com or on Twitter @hugoriosss.
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