Tonight, Orange County voters are picking a new majority for the county Board of Supervisors that will determine if Republicans retake the majority or Democrats hold onto it.
In all three elections, the top two vote getters will proceed to a runoff in November unless someone garners over 50% of the vote in the primary election and wins the seat outright.
In the county’s fourth district, which covers large chunks of north Orange County including Anaheim and Fullerton, Republican and OC Board of Education Trustee Tim Shaw was in the lead with nearly 33% of the vote, trailed by Democrat and Buena Park Mayor Connor Traut with just under 32% of the vote.
As of roughly 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, they were separated by 2,225 votes, with nearly 70,000 votes counted.
At the start of the evening, Traut was ahead of Shaw by over 100 votes.
The remaining two candidates, Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung and La Habra Councilwoman Rose Espinoza, each held less than 19% of the vote.
In the county’s fifth district, which covers swathes of the coast and south Orange County,
Republican Assemblywoman Diane Dixon was leading with nearly 49% of the vote while Democrat Supervisor Katrina Foley trailed at 45%.
Foley was ahead in some of the initial ballot tallies, but Dixon pulled ahead.
Lucy Vellema, an educator who also ran for the seat, was in last place at less than 6% of the just over 122,000 votes counted.
In the county’s second district, Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento is in the lead with nearly 63% of the vote.
If his lead holds at over 50%, he won’t have to go to a runoff election in November.
None of Sarmiento’s opponents held more than 15% of the vote apiece, with a total of nearly 49,000 votes counted.
