Local Results: a few rays of light.

[Jamie, CC, Keri, Placentia-Yorba Linda]

Let’s point out a FEW bright spots in this week’s dismal election. Locally.

Santa Ana Measure CC, making their historic 2020 rent control ordinance a permanent part of their City Charter, is ahead 55-45, I believe they’ve got it! (Meanwhile their fabled progressive Council majority is in danger as Jessie Lopez is a little behind Jeffrey Katz, but they still might pull that off too.) UPDATE SATURDAY – Jessie has passed up Katz, as the locals expected – which if it holds means SA will continue to have its progressive majority, and Mayor Valerie will continue to grumble and scowl in the minority!

UPDATE (almost missed this) – with the election of Tricia Quintero & the re-election of Marilyn Anderson (and despite the re-election of crazy Leandra Blades), the people of the Placentia – Yorba Linda USD have followed in the footsteps of the OUSD and Temecula, and taken back control from a band of destructive culture warriors – congratulations on your hard work!

Reformist Republican Keri Lynn Baert, who will fight in Rancho Santa Margarita for term limits, transparency & fiscal sanity, is far ahead of legally troubled Beall tool Carol Gamble.

Independent Fullerton Democrat Jamie Valencia will be an excellent replacement to longtime conservative stalwart Bruce Whitaker.

Anaheim will not have a Councilman Andrew Sarega, thank God. On the other hand, it took Disney money to beat him – in fact Disney money swept all three Anaheim Council seats as it always does. On the OTHER hand, Kristen Maahs (who beat Sarega) seems a lot better than most Disney candidates.

In Brea, the plot of ambitious MAGA councilman Steve Vargas to remake the Council with his supporters has failed, as his fellow incumbents Marick & Simonoff are way ahead of the two Vargas puppets, one of whom is the old anti-gay relic Klovstad, dad of recalled OUSD nightmare Madison Miner!

A lot of our favorite education & water board candidates prevailed, too many to mention but congrats Ed & Mark Lopez, Jackie Filbeck, Minerva Gomez, and the great KARL SECKEL of MWDOC.

And Orange County has (just barely) rejected Trump for the third time – a point of pride at least.

Overall though, results were as grim in this county as they were nationwide – Mike Munzing will continue degrading Aliso Viejo, defeating Ross Chun; race-baiting troll James Mai will bring shame to the Irvine Council; South County’s Laurie Davies will continue polluting the Assembly; the awful Valerie Amezcua is still Santa Ana Mayor; and HB’s Council has devolved from 4-3 MAGA-klepto majority to UNANIMOUS MAGA-KLEPTO COUNCIL.

Well, that’s it, my summary for now. The race between Min & Baugh is still too close to call. Irvine is a mixed bag and will once again have a Mayor Agran. Tustin’s harried but worthy Lee Fink is still ahead by over 2%. We’ll keep checking on these – LA LUTA CONTINUA.

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Original post Tuesday

Are you kidding? We can’t follow ALL the local races here. Here’s the ones WE are most interested in, and we’ll keep updating them as we learn the latest. You can keep checking on the races YOU most care about, over HERE. Except remember that some districts, like CA-45 (Tran v Steel) are in more than one county, so for that one check HERE.

Derek Tran v. Michelle Steel (CD 45)

• 8pm – DEREK AHEAD, 51-49!
• OVERNIGHT – Michelle overtook, in another victory for vicious Steel lies and Elon Musk millions.

Dave Min v. Scott Baugh (CD 47)

• 8pm – DAVE AHEAD, 55-45!
• Overnight – Baugh ahead by 1.2%, although the NYT still seems to expect Min to take it.
• WED – Min now behind by only 0.4%, maybe the Times is right!
• Meanwhile Mike Levin, whom we expected to win easily, is only up by 2%.
• Control of the House (the important thing) still unclear looks bleak.

Frances Marquez v. Janet Nguyen (OC Supervisor)

• Janet’s got it, 61-39. Sadly, no surprise. There will be no meaningful change on the Board, as she takes the place of her disgraced protege Andrew Do.

Prop. 33 (rent control)

• Going down 2-1, looks like all the lies may have paid off. In another lurch to the right, Prop 36 (relaunch Drug War) is way ahead.

Anaheim Council!

• 8pm – All the Disney money candidates winning so far; only good news is Kristen is beating Andrew Sarega.

Santa Ana Council, Mayor, Measures CC & DD?

• 8pm All the incumbents ahead, most notably Mayor Valerie over challenger Ben. The closest is Jessie just one percent over Katz – progressive majority on the line! Measures CC (rent control) and DD (undocumented voting) comfortably ahead – these are both a big deal!
• 11 pm – Whoops – did I look at DD wrong before? It’s going down in flames. And Katz is getting REALLY close to Jessie – a 32-vote difference now, in a race to see if SA keeps a progressive Council! (But even if they lose that, they’ve got their rent control permanent – good job.)
• OVERNIGHT – Katz 3% ahead of Jessie, progressive majority GONE. Though Thai, Johnathan and Ben will still be on Council, and rent control is permanent.

Irvine – Mayor? Council?

• 8pm – Agran ahead of Tammy for Mayor, 41-35. Council races at this point, Liu, Go, Carroll, James Mai (ugh!) OVERNIGHT – Agran, Park, Go, Mai, Carroll.

HB – three good Dems get re-elected?

• 8pm: Navy Seal guy Chad Williams is in first, knocking out the weakest Democrat which at this point is Rhonda Bolton.
• 10pm: That’s changed now, two more Republicans have passed up Kalmick and Moser. Looks like HB will have an ALL-MAGA Council!

And a few personal favorites:

Kitty or Jamie in Fullerton?

• 8pm – Kitty ahead of Jamie 37-33; if this keeps up, Ahmad Zahra will soon be Mayor! (As expected, Fred & Nick are running away with their races.)
• OVERNIGHT – Not so fast! Jamie ahead of Kitty by 132 votes!

Keri Lynn Baert vs. Carol Gamble in Rancho Santa Margarita?

• 8pm – Keri kicking Gamble’s ass like she said she would! 55-45 right now.
• OVERNIGHT – this holds! Congrats Keri, buh-bye Carol!

Brea – will the Steve Vargas coup succeed?

• 8pm – so far doesn’t look like it – decent incumbents Marick & Simonoff are ahead –
• Overnight, same! This is good.

Chris Duncan vs. Laurie Davies in South County Assembly?

• 8pm Davies ahead 53-47.
• Overnight – the MAGA klepto is CRUSHING Chris. Sorry… I know, Assembly supermajority not in play, but I’d just like to see Laurie lose..

Can Placentia Yorba Linda USD flip?

• 8pm Misty is nipping at Leandra’s heels; the other two races are looking good!
• Overnight – Leandra pulling away, regrettably.

Aliso Viejo – Munzing vs. Chun

• 8pm Munzing 5 points ahead of Chun, sad.
• Overnight – Ross not coming back.

ALSO 8pm: Diedre ahead for Garden Grove Mayor! Just barely above Klopfenstein. 10pm, the Klop has leapfrogged over the cancer scientist. Looks like Mayor KLOPFENSTEIN.

Tustin’s controversial Lee Fink ahead 55-45. OVERNIGHT that is getting closer.

Yorba Linda’s JJ & KK, which we support, are way ahead. Looking again – JJ is way ahead, KK way behind. I think I might have looked wrong last night.