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Posts Tagged ‘Troy Edgar’

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AD-72: Five Candidates (Two Democrats, Three Republicans) Running

Posted by Chris Nguyen on March 10, 2012

72nd Assembly DistrictIn AD-72, the withdrawal of Huntington Beach Councilman (and OC Political blogger) Matt Harper has shaken up the field.  That leaves millionaire Los Alamitos Mayor Troy Edgar as the Republican front-runner.  Orange County Board of Education Member Long Pham will gain most of the substantial Vietnamese Republican vote.  Huntington Beach Activist Travis Allen is the third Republican in the race, and judging by the two press releases we at OC Political received this morning (we’ll post those tomorrow), he will be running a Huntington Beach-centric campaign.  Huntington Beach is the second largest city in the district, behind only Garden Grove (while Huntington Beach as a whole is bigger than Garden Grove as a whole; most of Garden Grove is in AD-72 while only half of Huntington Beach is in AD-72).

The leading Democrat in the race is Garden Grove Planning Commissioner Joe Dovinh. Dovinh’s wife is Garden Grove City Councilwoman Dina Nguyen.  (For the record, I am not related to either Nguyen or Dovinh [or Pham, for that matter]; Nguyen is an exceedingly common last name, encompassing 36% of Vietnamese people.)   The other Democrat in the race is 89-year-old Albert Ayala, who is actually a Tea Party Democrat.

To recap, the five candidates on the ballot (along with their parties, cities of residence, and ballot designations) are:

  • Troy Edgar (R-Los Alamitos) – Businessman/Mayor
  • Long Pham (R-Fountain Valley) – Member, Orange County Board of Education
  • Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) – Small Business Owner
  • Joe Dovinh (D-Garden Grove) – City Commissioner/Businessperson
  • Albert Ayala (D-Garden Grove) – Retired Police Commander

Edgar is a multi-millionaire not averse to spending his own money for a campaign having loaned his previous Congressional campaign $400,000, and some close to Edgar have indicated he is prepared to spend $1 million to win the Assembly seat.  Pham is also an affluent candidate, having dropped $100,000 into his Assembly warchest (while most Assembly candidates who loan their campaigns $100,000 are bluffing, Pham is not, as he’s already started spending substantial portions of the $100,000).  Allen has informed OC Political that he has $90,000 in pledged support.  This is shaping up to be one expensive Republican primary.

Republicans consist of 42% of AD-72’s registered voters while Democrats sit at 31%.  22% of AD-72’s registered voters are No Party Preference while the remaining 5% are registered in third parties.

AD-72 consists of the entirety of Westminster, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Rossmoor, and Midway City, along with northern Huntington Beach (north of Ellis Avenue, Garfield Avenue, and Seapoint Street), most of Garden Grove (west of West Street), and a small portion of Santa Ana (west of the Santa Ana River [south of 1st Street] and west of Harbor Boulevard [north of 1st Street]).

Posted in 72nd Assembly District | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Matt Harper opts out of 72 AD race

Posted by Thomas Gordon on March 9, 2012

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Just received word that HB Councilmember Matthew Harper has decided not to run for the 72nd AD.

Mr Harper has endorsed Los Al Mayor Troy Edgar and announced that he would seek the 72nd AD seat in 2018.

Recently Westminster Councilmember Tyler Diep withdrew from the race.

Posted in 72nd Assembly District, Huntington Beach | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

BREAKING NEWS: Tyler Diep Drops Out of Assembly Race

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on February 7, 2012

According to the newspaper Người Việt, Tyler Diep has dropped out of the 72nd Assembly District race and will be running for re-election to the Westminster City Council. This comes on the heels of Los Alamitos Councilman Troy Edgar jumping into the race after switching from the 47th Congressional District earlier today. He stated that there was no pressure put on him by any other candidate or political entity to drop out of the race. You can expect to see him endorsing Troy Edgar in the very near future I would guess.

This is a bit surprising though because Diep was leading in the fundraising battle for this race with over $120,000 cash on hand in his account. You can read the story in Người Việt by clicking on the link here. Might I suggest this Google Translate link. The translation is not perfect but it will give you a rough idea of what exactly happened.

The big winner in this would appear to be Huntington Beach Councilman Matt Harper, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that OC Board of Education Member Long Pham actually benefits more from this turn of events. With Diep dropping out, Pham is now the only Vietnamese Republican remaining in the race with a possibility of Harper and Edgar splitting the vote. At the end of the day, though, I would now handicap this race as advantage Harper, assuming he does step up his fundraising.

Posted in 72nd Assembly District | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

BREAKING NEWS: Troy Edgar Drops Out of CD 47 Race, Jumps in AD 72 Race

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on February 7, 2012

In a surprising turn of events Los Alamitos Counclman Troy Edgar has dropped out of the 47th Congressional District race and jumped into the 72nd Assembly District race. Edgar was the fundraising leader in CD 47 if you count money loaned to yourself ($400,000). This was in a race that included former Congressman Steve Kuykendall and Long Beach City Councilman Gary DeLong.

Realistically this race would have been a tough one for Edgar despite having the fundraising lead because Orange County is a small portion of the new district and on top of that the Democrats have a registration advantage. Having State Senator Alan Lowenthal running on the other side of the aisle does not help things either.

The Assembly race is no picnic either though having to go against Westminster Councilman Tyler Diep, Huntington Beach Councilman Matt Harper, and Orange County Board of Education Trustee Long Pham. However, this is a safe Republican seat and the last one of these guys standing will likely run away with this in the General election when facing off against Joe Dovinh who is likely to make it to the run-off.

I am impressed with the fact that Edgar dropped out of the Congressional race considering he has to walk away from some of the money in his committee that he set up for the congressional race. Los Alamitos is a small part of AD 72 but if Edgar is willing to throw some money at this race I could see him pulling this off.

Posted in 47th Congressional District, 72nd Assembly District | Tagged: , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

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