Santa Ana City Councilwoman Jessie Lopez saw her lead expand again in the 68th Assembly District race, according to latest ballot tallies from the OC Registrar of Voters.
Lopez, a progressive Democrat, is squaring off against fellow Democratic Councilman David Penaloza, who held the lead in the race until Saturday.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Lopez held 51.93% of the vote, while Penaloza sat at 48.07% – a difference of 4,126 votes in a race where 106,726 votes have been tallied so far.
On Monday, Lopez had a 2,583-vote lead.
There’s an estimated 50,820 ballots left to process throughout the county, according to the OC Registrar of Voters.
If trends hold, it marks another political shift – especially in Santa Ana, where all three police union-backed candidates conceded their races, including two incumbents and one newcomer.
Like his two council colleagues who recently conceded their reelection bids, Penaloza’s city council campaigns were heavily backed by the Santa Ana police union.
In the Assembly race, Penloza’s campaign was bolstered by a host of Silicon Valley and real estate interests – culminating in over $8 million in independent spending by the end of October.
A host of labor unions – like the service workers – and a progressive political action committee backed Lopez campaign, but the independent spending lagged far behind at roughly $2.3 million.
Similar funding disparities played out in the Santa Ana City Council races.
First elected to the city council in 2020 and reelected in 2024, Lopez survived a 2023 recall attempt backed by the police union after the councilwoman voted against police pay raises.
If Lopez does get elected to the California Assembly, that would open up a seat on the city council dais.
Incoming freshman city council members – including a new mayor – will have to determine how to fill that vacancy,
Meanwhile, Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua, City Councilman Phil Bacerra and candidate Giovanni Chavez all conceded their election bids.
All three were backed by the Santa Ana police union and lost to candidates who had backing from various progressive political action committees.
Now, Dan Shimell is on track to become the next mayor as Isuri Ramos and Sandra De Anda are slated to become city council members.
Shimell, an attorney, moved to the city six years ago.
Ramos is a planning commissioner and is the executive director of the progressive advocacy group, Chispa.
De Anda is an immigrant rights advocate and helps run the OC Rapid Response network – which has been fighting to get federally detained immigrants legal representation and a host of other protections.
