Many candidates for higher office in Orange County lost their election Tuesday night.

But there are a few who lost more than just their race – they lost tens of thousands of their own dollars.

When running for office, most candidates invest some of their own money in the race to get the ball rolling, usually through a loan to their campaign account. 

By the end of the campaign, if they have leftover money in their campaign accounts, they can use it to pay back the loans they took out and avoid paying out of their own pocket. 

But some candidates don’t have enough money on hand to pay back their loans based on their latest financial disclosures, which only run through February 17. 

Candidates for First District Supervisor Lose Over $300,000

One of the frontrunners in the race to replace Andrew Do as county supervisor for the county’s northwest first district was Van Tran, Do’s chief of staff and a former state assemblyman.

He’s still currently in third place for the seat, meaning he won’t proceed to a runoff election in November. 

According to campaign finance filings, he invested at least $100,000 of his own money into the race. 

As of February 17, he had $56,000 left on hand and over $205,000 in outstanding bills and debts. 

When asked about the funds on Wednesday morning, Tran said the number was “probably obsolete,” and that he still had money coming into his campaign that could help pay off the balance. 

“We raised plenty of funds towards the last month,” Tran said in an interview. “Whatever shortfall we have, we loan ourselves.” 

Tran, the only candidate to speak to Voice of OC about the election debt, noted that he would likely have to take on the cost of that shortfall if one did exist. 

Former Fountain Valley Mayor Michael Vo loaned his campaign committee over $235,000 in a race for county supervisor, some of which was leftover from his other failed campaign for supervisor in 2022. 

As of the end of election night, he was in last place, with just over 6% of the total vote, and according to his most recent disclosures had only $36,000 left on hand. 

That leaves $199,000 that Vo lost on the campaign.

He did not respond to requests for comment on what his plans were for the account. 

Westminster Councilwoman Kimberly Ho also ran for the first district supervisor seat, finishing less than 100 votes ahead of Vo to land in second to last place. 

Ho’s campaign account was almost empty until she loaned herself $150,000 on February 12, which made up 91% of her campaign funds. 

As of Feb. 17, she still had nearly $143,000 in her account, leaving her missing $7,000. 

Candidate for Judge Ran Self-Funded Campaigns 

While a slate of law-enforcement backed judges made it into office, the candidates who ran against them largely had to fund their campaigns out of their own pockets. 

Dan Jacobson, a lawyer who ran against deputy District Attorney Jason Baez, loaned his campaign $76,000, and he had about $59,000 left on hand by the end of the race. 

That left him with a $17,000 loss. 

Daniel Kern, who also ran for judge, is looking at around a $3,000 loss according to his disclosures. 

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.