Orange County could see some political upsets this primary election, as some races – one OC Supervisor race and a school board recall – showed some surprising initial results at the end of Tuesday.
Click here for the rest of Voice of OC’s coverage of some of the biggest races and measures OC voters decided on in the March primary election.
The Orange County Supervisor first district race could see a veteran politician square off against an underfunded candidate in the November election.
State Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-Huntington Beach) is currently in the lead in the first district, which encompasses the northwestern chunk of the county, with over 44% of the vote.
In second place is Cypress City Councilwoman Frances Marquez, the lone Democrat who was outspent 10 to 1 by some of her opponents.
If she maintains her lead, Marquez will face Nguyen again in the November general election.
Van Tran, a former Republican State Assemblyman and chief of staff to current supervisor Andrew Do, failed to break into the top two by the end of Tuesday night after spending nearly $600,000 on his campaign.
In comparison, Marquez managed to spend just under $60,000 leading up to the primary election.
Between her own spending and support from special interest groups, Nguyen’s campaign received over $625,000 of spending supporting her, and she still has over $200,000 in the bank according to disclosures.
County Supervisor Don Wagner is currently leading by over 28,000 votes in his reelection campaign for the third district seat that represents most of eastern Orange County, meaning he’s likely to win his race outright in the primary.
Orange School Board Recall
Residents in the Orange Unified School District also decided on the futures of board trustees Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner.
It’s a recall election organizers say stems from the abrupt firing of the former superintendent, while the two trustees say its a union-backed attack on parental rights.
According to ballot counts at the end of election night, voters were choosing to recall Ledesma and Miner.
Nearly 53% percent of voters backed recalling Miner and just over 53% of voters backed recalling Ledesma.
The two trustees have also faced criticism for their policies on banning the pride flag and other banners on district flag poles, temporarily restricting library access over concerns of the availability of age-inappropriate books and requiring school officials to notify parents if their child is transgender.
The OC Board of Education’s conservative majority are all currently in the lead to keep their seats, meaning the board will be headed by pro-charter school advocates for at least four more years.
City Ballot Measures Mostly Pass
Huntington Beach voters also weighed in on voter IDs, flags flown on government buildings and changes to city operations through three separate measures – marking the first time Surf City residents were able to weigh in on the new Republican city council majority through the ballot box.
One of the most controversial proposals was introducing a new voter ID law that would require people to show a government ID before voting, which 54% of voters were in favor of at the end of election night.
Voters are also supporting a new measure to limit what flags can fly over city hall following controversy over whether or not the city would fly the LGBTQ+ pride flag, with 58% of voters in favor of limiting the flags to government flags and prisoner of war flags.
The only ballot measure that is currently failing is Measure C, which would have introduced a host of reforms to the city’s operation like making a two-year budget and allowing the mayor to cancel meetings.
At the end of election night, nearly 53% of voters were against moving forward with those new rules.
Westminster voters also decided to approve a new sales tax that city leaders say could help stave off a city bankruptcy, with 62% of voters approving the move.
Irvine voters approved city leaders’ plan to expand their city council from five to seven members and move to district elections, with nearly 59% of voters approving the shift.
Orange County’s Key Congressional Races
Voters in Orange County’s 47th Congressional District also decided who should advance to November after Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) gave up her seat for a shot at California’s open U.S. Senate seat – a race she was losing by a wide margin late Tuesday.
As of the end of Tuesday, Republican candidate and former Assemblyman Scott Baugh was in the lead by over 8,000 votes over Democratic state Sen. Dave Min, who had 27,166 votes.
In third place was Democratic candidate and local activist, Joanna Weiss, with 20,089 votes.
In the 45th Congressional District, Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Seal Beach), is likely heading to the November ballot.
Steel had 46,075 votes at the end of Tuesday, while Democrat Derek Tran had 13,046 votes and Democratic Garden Grove Councilwoman Kim Nguyen-Penaloza had 11,380 votes.
Law Enforcement-Backed Judicial Candidates Lead
County judges are also decided in the primary election, with deputy District Attorneys Whitney Bokosky, Richard Zimmer and Jason Baez all have a strong lead to become the next members of Orange County’s judicial bench as they all lead their opponents by at least 90,000 votes each.
It’s Orange County’s most opaque election, with little public information available to voters about the judicial races.
But a Voice of OC review found law enforcement – the sheriff deputies’ union and county attorneys – and local defense attorneys financially backed judicial candidates who are county prosecutors, all of which are set to win in their races.
[Read: Who Finances Orange County Judge’s Campaigns?]
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.
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