OC Political

While most candidates have figured out whether they’ve won or lost, there’s a handful who are still waiting for provisionals and late absentees to see whether they’ve won or lost.

Orange County’s three biggest City Council races are all ending in nailbiters.

In Anaheim, School Board Member James D. Vanderbilt leads incumbent Gail Eastman by 705 votes (0.5%).  Vanderbilt was backed by Mayor Tom Tait while Eastman was part of the anti-Tait majority.  Should Vanderbilt hang on to his lead, the Council 4-1 supermajority will shrink to a 3-2 majority.

In Costa Mesa, incumbent Jim Righeimer is clinging to a 112-vote lead (0.4%) over Jay Humphrey.  Righeimer is the leader of the 3-2 conservative majority.  Democrat Katrina Foley replaces termed out Councilwoman Wendy Leece as a member of the Council minority with Councilwoman Sandy Genis.  If Humphrey overtakes Righeimer, the Council majority will switch from the conservatives to the liberals.

In Irvine, what is clear is that the Republicans have maintained their majority, the Council’s longtime Democrat power-broker Larry Agran is gone, and women comprise the majority of the Irvine City Council (Republican Christina Shea, Republican Lynn Schott, and Democrat Beth Krom).  The question now is whether there will be a 3-2 Republican majority or 4-1 Republican supermajority.  This all hinges on whether Republican Councilman Jeff Lalloway can hang on to his 256-vote (0.4%) lead over Democrat Melissa Fox (even Lynn Schott only has a 309-vote lead of 0.5% over Fox).

In Dana Point, Joe Muller leads Jody Payne by just 39 votes (0.2%).  There are no incumbents because Councilman Bill Brough was elected to the Assembly, Councilwoman Lisa Bartlett was elected to the Board of Supervisors, and Councilman Steve Weinberg retired due to term limits.

In Laguna Woods, Rae C. Tso wields a narrow 23-vote (0.2%) lead over Carol A. Moore.

In the Santa Ana Unified School District, poor Valerie Amezcua is in another nailbiter.  She was just 536 votes (0.7%) short of winning a seat in 2012.  In 2014, Amezcua is clinging to a 141-vote (0.5%) lead.  I’m sure she prefers the 2014 result over the 2012 result, but clearly, the week after the election is becoming an extra stressful family tradition in the Amezcua household.  (On a sidenote, MIke Dalati, who came in fourth for Auditor-Controller in June, came in 8th out of 8 in his race for Santa Ana Unified School District.  His fiancee is Karina Onofre, the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat who lost a Santa Ana City Council race as a Republican and the 74th Assembly District, switching parties after she had taken out papers to run for the Assembly as a Republican but filing the Assembly candidacy paperwork as a Democrat.)

In the Fountain Valley School District, Jim Cunneen leads Gary Stine by 107 votes (0.4%).  Assuming his lead holds, Cunneen seems to be a consistent third-place finisher in FVSD, having come in third in 2012, but unfortunately for him, only two seats were up then.  He is breathing a sigh of relief that there are three seats up this time.

Sidenotes (Five races with small, but not quite as close, leads)

In close, but probably done, are races where the lead is more than 0.5% but does not exceed 1.0%.

In Lake Forest, it’s clear that incumbents David Bass and Kathryn McCullough have been defeated.  Drew Hamilton leads Thomas Cagley by 303 votes (0.9%).  Hamilton had been Councilman Dwight Robinson’s first choice to fill the vacancy left by Councilman Peter Herzog’s resignation.  Bass had been Voigts’s first choice.  Jim Gardner who is second place and has won a seat on the Council was Councilman Adam Nick’s first choice.  On Tuesday, Nick was defeated in his legal carpetbagging bid for the 46th Congressional District, a place that does not include Lake Forest.

* Indicates Incumbent Candidate, if any

In a battle of two former Centralia Board Members trying to get back on the Board, Art Montez leads Kevin Sequeira by 98 votes (0.7%).  Shockingly, sitting incumbent Irv Trinkle came in dead last.

Connor Traut, the second coming of Jordan Brandman in every way, came in first.  La Palma Councilman Henry Charoen, who bowed out of the 65th Assembly District race for Young Kim, came in second.

In the La Habra City School District, Cynthia Aguirre leads Kevin M. Jacobson by 122 votes (1.0%) in a race where voters had to replace 3 sitting incumbents when no incumbent sought re-election.

In the Ocean View School District, Joseph A. Gaglione leads incumbent Tracy Pellman by 261 votes (0.6%).  In OVSD, the teacher’s union openly backed Gaglione and Jack C. Souders.  Incumbent Republicans Pellman and John Briscoe accused each other of being the union’s secret third candidate.

Finally in the East Orange County Water District, incumbent Director Sy Everett has a 190-vote (0.8%) lead over former Director Douglas M. Chapman in the latter’s comeback bid.  OC Political readers may remember Chapman for his effort to run for two offices simultaneously, by seeking re-election to the East Orange County Water District while also challenging incumbent Denis Bilodeau for the Orange County Water District, which left him with neither office when his dual office-seeking drew former Tustin Mayor Doug Davert into the East Orange County Water District race.  Bilodeau won re-election and Davert unseated Chapman.