With returns still coming in, we wanted to send this update. Because of your persistence, we may see sweeping gains down the ballot in Orange County.
We’re watching returns closely to ensure every vote counts.
While many elections are too close to call, including for Vice President Joe Biden, Congressman Gil Cisneros, Congressman Harley Rouda, and other elections down the ballot, we are optimistic.
We’ve been here before. In 2018 — due to overwhelming voter turnout, similar to turnout we’re seeing now — it took weeks to count all the ballots in Orange County. With more than 202,000 ballots left to count, our election is far from done.
We are fighting back on Republicans’ attempts at fraud, intimidation, and misinformation. Whether it’s fake ballot boxes or fake vote centers, we are reporting issues swiftly to ensure they are investigated by authorities. Over 100 Democrats joined our Election Safety Team — join the team here.
While we know counts aren’t done yet, initial results are strong.
Orange County voters overwhelmingly support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over Donald Trump. Our Congressional delegation’s share of the vote increased this year over 2018. We may sweep Orange County’s senate elections, with victories for Josh Newman in Senate District 29 and Dave Min in Senate District 27. We are holding all our State Assembly seats.
This year, nearly twice as many Democrats ran for local offices compared to two years ago. We are breaking decades-long Republican strangleholds on local offices, even in the reddest parts of Orange County.
Democrats held or expanded our representation in every city council, school board, water board or special district that we ran for.
We’re seeing big gains in city councils, with potential sweeps of all council seats that are up this cycle in Irvine, Costa Mesa, Tustin and Santa Ana. We held all our city council majorities, and we may have new Democratic majorities in Irvine and Aliso Viejo. We may expand Democratic representation on city councils in Huntington Beach, Buena Park, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Laguna Beach, San Clemente, and Westminster.
For the first time in Orange County history (to our knowledge), there will be more Democrats on our school boards than Republicans or independents.
Our candidates are leading voices in the community. We are especially proud of our first-time candidates. Their hard-earned experience is invaluable, and irreplaceable. Running for office takes tenacity and preparation. That’s why many candidates run one, two or three times before winning their first election. Win or lose, our candidates have our gratitude, respect and congratulations. We’re ready to stand together for 2022.
Democratic clubs are the soul of the Democratic Party. Club leaders and grassroots activists uplifted our candidates and our shared values to make these victories possible. Hard-working campaign staff and advisors led hundreds of thousands of hours of volunteer time.
For your work in this historic election: You made a big impact in Orange County.
Results are updated at 5:00 PM each business day until all votes are counted. We’ll be watching returns with you, and we hope to share more updates soon.
In unity,
Ada, Ajay, Lyndsey, Rachel, and Denise
Democratic Party of Orange County Chairwoman and Staff
November 4, 2020