Don Wagner was in the lead by over 28,000 votes – or around 31% of the vote – as of the end of Tuesday night, according to early counts from the OC Registrar of Voters.
The race will shape the political makeup of the county board of supervisors for the next four years, determining who represents most of the county’s eastern cities like Irvine, Mission Viejo and Tustin.
It’s a race that’s likely to be decided in the March primary election.
Unless the candidates end the night with an equal split of votes, one of them will win the seat outright with a majority of the vote and not move to a runoff election in November.
Wagner has held the seat since 2019 and was heavily supported by the county sheriff deputies’ union in this year’s election, which spent over $300,000 boosting his campaign.
Khan joined the Irvine City Council in 2018 and was elected mayor in 2020, but she’s set to be termed out of that seat at the end of this year.
Between special interest spending and their own campaigns, Wagner outspent Khan 2:1 in the race, with most of his support coming from county employee unions such as the sheriff deputies’ union, the firefighters union and the county employee’s association.
Wagner has approved raises for all three of those labor groups during his time on the board.
Khan did not receive any outside special interest spending, but did receive a series of direct donations from various construction trade unions who she championed on the Irvine City Council, promoting union-only project rules for city projects.
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.
