Orange County could add more Democratic lawmakers for state legislative seats, and the two Democrats running for the nonpartisan Orange County Board of Supervisors were leading as of Wednesday’s election results.
Orange County Board Vice Chair Katrina Foley leads in her race with 51.66% of the vote ahead of Republican Assemblywoman Diane Dixon with 48.34%.
Buena Park Mayor Connor Traut, a Democrat, leads his race against Republican challenger Tim Shaw 50.34%-49.66%. Traut is leading by 824 votes in the race to succeed Orange County Board Chairman Doug Chaffee.
“I think Connor should win,” Chaffee said.
Republican state Sen
Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland is narrowly trailing Democrat Chris Duncan. Duncan has 141,285 votes, or 50.2%, compared with Strickland’s 140,225, or 49.8%.
Republican Huntington Beach City Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark leads former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, a Democrat, 50.81%-49.19% margin with the vote difference at 2,719.
Republican Assemblyman Tri Ta leads Democrat Paula Swift by 50.49%-49.51%, with the difference in votes at 1,111.
In the 74th Assembly District, Republican incumbent Laurie
In the 74th Assembly District, Republican incumbent Laurie Davies holds a 583-vote lead, or 50.2% to 49.8%, over Democrat Sergio Farias.
All of the congressional Democratic incumbents were well ahead. In the 40th Congressional District race matching Republican Reps. Young Kim and Ken Calvert, Calvert led with 54.5%-45.5%, or 70,550-58,817 votes.
UC Irvine political science professor Louis DeSipio said, “Congressional District 40 always amazes me. I expected a different outcome, and it hasn’t appeared. The old-line loyalties of the Republican Party were stronger than that for a new leader.”
Democrats surfed a historically large wave nationally
Democrats surfed a historically large wave nationally with a “combination of some (Republicans) not voting… and some party switchers, probably independents who voted Republican switching to Democratic,” DeSipio said.
The effect in Orange County wasn’t as pronounced because it is more purple than blue or red, DeSipio said.
“But what was happening nationally spilled over into Orange County,” DeSipio said.
The Democrats should benefit from the remaining ballots to be counted as they are mostly mailed-in ones.
That’s assuming we see the same pattern
“That’s assuming we see the same pattern from 2018 with mail-in ballots heavily favoring Democrats,” DeSipio said. “I don’t know why that would change.”
Foley’s bid for reelection was “closer than I expected it to be,” but she appears to be the favorite to win, DeSipio said.
Orange County Democratic Party Chair Florice Hoffman said she was “very confident (Foley) will win.”
Duncan was ahead with help from Los Angeles County voters, Hoffman said.
Although Chris Kluwe is down, I think he’ll
“Although Chris Kluwe is down, I think he’ll pull it off when we get more of the ballots that were dropped off because they trend Democratic,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman was optimistic about Swift and Farias.
“Sergio Farias has the most Republican part of Orange County, but he will be pulled up by San Diego County,” Hoffman said.
“I think we’ll pull off Connor Traut,” Hoffman said. “It’s a Democratic district. You run as nonpartisan so Democrats may not know who the Democrat is so it’s harder.”
Hoffman noted that Orange County Board of Education
Hoffman noted that Orange County Board of Education member Shaw is well known in the district.
Hoffman said it was possible two Democrats may end up in the top four to join the City Council in Huntington Beach. Democrat Ben Davis was in fourth place in that race.
