Orange County’s coast is set to get a new assemblymember tonight in a faceoff between Republican Gracey Van Der Mark and Democrat Chris Kluwe for the 72nd CA Assembly District seat.
Van Der Mark was in the lead with nearly 51% of the vote as of 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, Kluwe trailed with just over 49% of the vote, a vote gap of around 2,600 votes.
Republican Assemblywoman Diane Dixon is leaving the seat behind to run for Orange County Supervisor against incumbent Katrina Foley.
Van Der Mark and Kluwe have publicly clashed repeatedly in the Huntington Beach City Council chambers over the last couple years, where Van Der Mark served as both a council member and mayor for one year while Kluwe repeatedly spoke out at city council meetings and was once arrested and cited for disrupting the meeting.
Kluwe’s campaign was heavily financed by the California Democratic Party, while a series of Republican groups sent attack ads at his campaign separate from Van Der Mark’s operation.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.
