Huntington Beach voters are deciding on either cementing a Republican supermajority on their city council or reelecting a split council.
So far, Chad Williams was leading the pack with nearly 40,000 votes as of 11:30 p.m., followed by Butch Twining with 33,828 votes and Don Kennedy in third with 33,443.
The top three vote getters will get a seat on the dais.
Councilmembers Dan Kalmick, Natalie Moser and Rhonda Bolton were losing reelection, with Moser in fourth place overall at 28,666 votes.
They’re also weighing in on the future of the city clerk’s office, which could end up running the city’s elections should city leaders move to implement voter ID.
Realtor Lisa Lane Barnes is leading the race for city clerk with just over 59% of the vote as of 11:30 p.m., followed by Regina Blankenhorn with just under 41% of the vote, a gap of over 12,000 ballots.
While the council will still have a conservative majority no matter the outcome of the election, who gets into office could determine how long it stays that way.
Councilman Tony Strickland has announced his intention to run for state senate if current Senator Janet Nguyen wins election to the OC Board of Supervisors, where she’s over 44,000 votes ahead of her opponent as of 11:30 p.m.
[Read: Santana: The Political Ghost of Andrew Do Haunts 1st District Race]
If Nguyen gets elected and Strickland wins her senate seat while the city council can’t come to a consensus on who to replace him, a special election would decide who gets the seat.
That special election would also come as the city’s grappling with a budget shortfall and discussions on implementing voter ID for local elections amidst a lawsuit with the California Secretary of State arguing they can’t move forward with that – along with an incoming state law expressly banning voter ID for local elections.
[Read: CA Attorney General Sues Huntington Beach Over Voter ID Law]
Barnes has pledged to move ahead with implementing voter ID if she’s elected, while Blankenhorn says the issue needs more study before it’s put in place to ensure votes aren’t ruled invalid.
Those debates all come after two years of sweeping changes at city hall led by a conservative council majority elected in 2022, who changed how books are purchased at the library, sued the state over mandated zoning laws and changed who prays at public meetings along with other shifts.
Twining, Kennedy and Williams are all endorsed by the council’s majority, while Kalmick, Moser and Bolton are running for reelection on a platform aimed at disputing most of the city’s big shifts over the last two years.
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.
