2018 primary election update for Seal Beach voters

2018 primary election update for Seal Beach voters

The votes are in for the June 5 California Direct Primary Election but some are still being counted as of Friday, June 8, and at least one race is still too close to call. Tuesday’s election determines which candidates will advance to the general election in November. Tuesday’s election was a top-two primary which means the top two vote-getters advance regardless of party. So far voter turnout in Orange County appears to be at nearly 28 percent, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters. That number could change as more votes are counted. Many of the remaining votes, estimated to be in the tens of thousands, are mail-in ballots and provisional ballots. It could be weeks before official results are known. Here’s what we know so far as of the morning of Saturday, June 9, 2018.

Who will face Rohrabacher?

Seal Beach is in the 48th Congressional District and incumbent Republican Dana Rohrabacher got 30 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s primary to advance to the general election in November. But it’s unclear who Rep. Rohrabacher will face in that race as he seeks a 16th term in Congress. As of Saturday morning, Democrat Hans Keirstead was ahead of fellow Democrat Harley Rouda by a mere 20 votes. That’s a change from just a few hours after the polls closed when businessman Rouda was ahead of stem cell scientist Keirstead by 73 votes. As more votes were counted, the lead changed and the race for second tightened. Republican Scott Baugh is in fourth place and trails Rouda by roughly 1,500 votes. It could weeks before the second-place finisher is officially determined.

A post on the Keirstead campaign Facebook page from Wednesday was optimistic but cautioned that votes still needed to be counted, “We look forward to celebrating a win, but what is needed now is patience and kindness. There will be a Democrat on the ballot to challenge Rohrabacher and whoever prevails will need the support of a united party behind them.”

The 48th is one of several California congressional districts targeted by Democrats in their effort to take back control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats need to win 23 seats nationwide to accomplish that. Unofficial election results show a Democrat possibly advancing to face a Republican in four Republican-held congressional districts in Orange County.

Democrats suffered a loss in state government representation after an effort to recall State Senator Josh Newman, a Democrat, was successful. Fifty-nine percent of voters in the 29th State Senate District, which includes parts of Los Alamitos and Cypress, supported the recall. Newman was targeted for recall after voting for SB1, the 2017 State Senate bill that raised the gasoline tax by 12 cents a gallon to pay for road and bridge repairs. An effort to place a repeal of that tax on the November ballot is underway. Newman won the seat in 2016 after beating Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang by just 1 percent of the vote. Now, Republican Chang is poised to finish out his term after she garnered 35 percent of the vote in Tuesday.

Republicans are celebrating the fact that the GOP will be represented in the California Governor’s race in November. With an endorsement from President Trump, Republican businessman John Cox won 26 percent of the vote to advance to the general election. Cox will face current Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, who garnered 33 percent of the vote. In third place was former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat. Finishing fourth was Seal Beach’s current State Assemblyman for the 72nd District, Republican Travis Allen.

To check for updates on races in Orange County, including results on the 48th Congressional District, visit the Orange County Registrar of Voters: https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/pri2018/results.htm#c-1653

Here is a list of the results for the races impacting voters in the 90740, 90720 or 90743 zip codes as of Saturday, June 9. Again, some of these numbers could change as more votes are tallied. (* denotes incumbent)

County-level Offices

Orange County Supervisor, 2nd District

Michelle Steel*: 66 percent

Brendon Perkins: 24 percent

Sheriff-Coroner

Don Barnes: 51 percent

Duke Nguyen: 30 percent

Assessor

Claude Parrish*: 70 percent

Richard B. Ramirez: 17 percent

Auditor-Controller

Eric J. Woolery*: 75 percent

Toni Smart: 25 percent

County Clerk-Recorder

Hugh Nguyen*: 79 percent

Steve Rocco: 21 percent

District Attorney-Public Administrator

Tony Rackauckas*: 39 percent

Todd Spitzer: 35 percent

Treasurer-Tax Collector

Shari L. Friedenrich*: 100 percent

County Superintendent of Public Schools

Al Mijares*: 100 percent

Judge of the Superior Court, Office #13

Theodore “Ted” Howard* 79 percent

Franklin Dunn 21 percent

Board of Education, Trustee Area 2

Mari Barke: 40 percent

David L. Boyd*: 36 percent

State Government

State Senate, 29th District

Recall of Incumbent State Senator Josh Newman, 29th District:

Yes: 60 percent

No: 40 percent

Replacement for State Senate, 29th District if recall succeeds:

Ling Ling Chang (R): 34 percent

Bruce Whitaker (R): 20 percent

Joseph Cho (D): 20 percent

State Senator, 34th District:

Janet Nguyen* (R): 59 percent

Tom Umberg (D): 27 percent

State Assembly, 72nd District

Josh Lowenthal (D): 37 percent

Tyler Diep (R): 30 percent

State Assembly, 65th District

Sharon Quirk-Silva* (D): 51 percent

Alexandria Coronado (R): 49 percent

Congress

U.S. Senator

Dianne Feinstein* (D): 44 percent

Kevin De León (D): 11 percent

James Bradley (R): 9 percent

48th Congressional District

Dana Rohrabacher* (R): 30 percent

Hans Keirstead (D): 17 percent

Harley Rouda (D): 17 percent

Scott Baugh (R): 16 percent

47th Congressional District

Alan Lowenthal* (D): 58 percent

John Briscoe (R): 23 percent

Propositions

68: Bond for parks and water systems Yes: 56 percent No: 44 percent

69: Gas tax Transportation Funds Yes: 81 percent No: 19 percent

70: Cap-and-trade spending vote Yes: 36 percent No: 64 percent

71: Ballot-measure start dates Yes: 77 percent No: 23 percent

72: No property reassessment for rain recycling Yes: 84 percent No:16 percent

Statewide Offices

Governor

Gavin Newsom (D): 33 percent

John Cox (R): 26 percent

Antonio Villaraigosa (D): 13 percent

Travis Allen (R): 10 percent

Lt. Governor

Eleni Kounalakis (D): 24 percent

Ed Hernandez (D): 21 percent

Secretary of State

Alex Padilla* (D): 52 percent

Mark Meuser (R): 32 percent

Attorney General

Xavier Becerra* (D): 45 percent

Steven Bailey (R): 25 percent

Insurance Commissioner

Steve Poizner (No Party Preference): 42 percent

Ricardo Lara (D): 40 percent

Controller

Betty Yee* (D): 61 percent

Konstantinos Roditis (R): 35 percent

Treasurer

Fiona Ma (D): 43 percent

Greg Conlon (R): 22 percent

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Marshall Tuck: 38 percent

Tony Thurmond: 35 percent

Lily Ploski: 17 percent

State Board of Equalization, 4th District

Joel Anderson (R): 32 percent

Mike Schaeffer (D): 17 percent

John F. Kelly (R): 17 percent