2 days Ago
Former Assemblymember Steven Choi is maintaining his lead in the only state Senate race on Orange County voters’ ballots this year — but Sen. Josh Newman has reduced that gap in recent days. Choi, a Republican, led Newman by 6,947 votes, or 50.
78%, in the 37th Senate district race , according to the latest vote tally posted by the Orange County registrar of voters Monday evening. A week earlier, the vote tally showed Choi ahead of Newman by nearly 11,000 votes. “As the daily counting results of mail ballots are reported, all Republican candidates and supporters are nervously watching closely,” said Choi on Monday.
“My strong lead came down to about a half.” “I’m hoping and feel confident that my lead, however, will maintain to the end. That will make history,” said Choi.
Newman’s campaign spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. Due to redistricting, which happens every 10 years, Newman was drawn into a district that was almost completely new to him. Most of the expansive Orange County district, which includes Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach and Orange, is represented by outgoing state Sen.
Dave Min, D-Irvine. Min was recently elected to represent California’s 47th congressional district. This territory is more familiar to Choi, who represented a swath of it during his time in the Assembly from 2016 to 2022.
The sitting senator, who was first elected in 2016, represents what is now the 29th Senate district, which covers parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties. Newman lost the seat in a 2018 recall election after supporting a gas tax increase. However, he regained it in 2020 by defeating Republican Ling Ling Chang .
In Orange County, there are still 51,579 ballots remaining to be processed, according to the county registrar’s update on Monday. Newly elected state lawmakers will be sworn in on Dec. 2, when they’ll begin work on a special session called by Gov.
Gavin Newsom to bolster the state’s legal defense in areas such as reproductive health care, climate action and immigration protection. Newsom said the special session is in response to the upcoming Trump administration. The secretary of state will certify election results on Dec.
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