Initial election night results for the Anaheim Mayoral race showed Ashleigh Aitken was in the lead with 60% of the vote ahead of Alfredo Rodriguez at about 29% of the vote, as of 10:31 p.m.
Imran Sharief trailed behind in third with 11% of the vote. There were over 42,500 votes counted so far in the race.
The election comes in the wake of Aitken admitting to struggling with alcoholism following a bombshell claim filed against the city by her Chief of Staff Berenice Ballinas alleging the Mayor called her a “dirty Mexican,” constantly questioned her sexuality and drank heavily at government functions.
Aitken has denied allegations of being homophobic and hurling racist slurs at Ballinas and city officials have hired outside investigators to launch a probe into the accusations.
The Anaheim Police Association’s PAC decided to suspend their backing of Aitken at the end of September in light of the allegations and last month began spending heavily against Aitken’s reelection campaign.
The police union’s committee spent over $93,000 on polling and mailers against Aitken as of Oct. 23.
The Lincoln Club of Orange County, a conservative donor group, has spent around $40,000 on media buys opposing Aitken and about $1,500 on digital ads supporting Rodriguez as of Oct. 20.
Meanwhile, Disney and the hotelier-funded committees rolled over left over money from the 2024 election into a committee backing Aitken called “Neighbors for a Strong Anaheim supporting Aitken for Mayor 2026.”
That group spent over $60,000 on mailers backing Aitken as of Oct. 2.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.
