A Republican and a Democrat might face off this November to represent the heart of Orange County at the state assembly to succeed Assemblyman Avelino Valencia (D-Anaheim).
Wednesday evening’s election results update showed Republican Mayra Ruiz was in the lead with about 34% of the vote ahead of Democrat Santa Ana Councilman David Penaloza at 33% – a difference of 361 votes.
Santa Ana Councilwoman Jessie Lopez, a Democrat, was trailing behind Penaloza by over 3,400 votes.
So far, 42,101 votes have been tallied. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were nearly 271,000 ballots left to process in OC.
The district covers parts of Anaheim, Orange and Santa Ana.
Early Tuesday results showed Penaloza leading the race, but by the end of the night Ruiz had taken a slight lead over the Santa Ana Councilman.
Ruiz is endorsed by the OC Republican Party. She does not list her endorsements on her website.
Penaloza is endorsed by a host of public safety unions, labor unions and the California Democratic Party and received his largest support from tech companies and executives.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.
