Several of Orange County’s incumbent Republican state legislators are on track to lose their seats to challengers this year, with one race that’s still too close to call.
Republican Senator Tony Strickland conceded on Tuesday afternoon, saying the path to victory was no longer there in his race against Democrat Chris Duncan.
“As painful as it is to write this, it looks like the numbers aren’t going to turn in our direction to win my re-election to the State Senate,” Strickland wrote in a Tuesday afternoon Facebook post.
It comes after Strickland overwhelmingly won election to the seat last year, beating his nearest opponents by more than 24% of the vote, and returning to the statehouse after over a decade away.
Duncan, a Democrat and former San Clemente City Council member who ran for state assembly and lost twice in the last four years against Republican Assemblywoman Laurie Davies.
“We were outspent nearly 3 to 1, written off by the pundits, and told repeatedly that the incumbent wasn’t beatable. But they underestimated just how much the people of California are done with the same old politics,” Duncan wrote on a Tuesday evening post. “Now the real work begins.”
Davies was also on track to lose her seat as of Tuesday night, with Democrat San Juan Capistrano Councilman Sergio Farias carrying 51% of the vote, an over 3,700-vote lead.
Republican Assemblyman Tri Ta lost to Democrat challenger Paula Swift, issuing a concession statement on Monday.
“While this is not the outcome we had hoped for, I respect the decision of the voters,” Ta wrote. ”Serving the people of the 70th Assembly District has been one of the greatest honors of my life.”
Two years ago, Ta won his district by nearly 10% of the vote.
As of Tuesday night, Swift carried a 5,200-vote lead over Ta, roughly 3.6% of the votes.
One of the tightest races in the county is for the 72nd Assembly District seat, which covers a large chunk of the county’s coast and was recently abandoned by incumbent Republican Diane Dixon, who ran for county supervisor and lost to Katrina Foley.
Right now, Republican Huntington Beach Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark holds a narrow 111-vote lead over Democrat challenger Chris Kluwe, a former Minnesota Vikings punter whose never held public office.
The lead has shifted dramatically over the past week, with Kluwe in the lead on Election Night but Van Der Mark staying ahead of him since then.
The only two assembly seats in Orange County where Republicans were on track to win as of Tuesday evening were the 59th and 71st Assembly Districts, with Republican incumbents Phillip Chen and Kate Sanchez leading over their challengers.
Both their districts are on the edge of Orange County, with the 59th District bleeding over into San Bernardino County and the 71st District stretching into Riverside County.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.
