Orange County is not the Republican bastion it used to be. Consider that in this week’s 2016 Primary Election the Democratic Presidential nominees, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, together netted over 130K votes while the GOP nominee, Donald Trump, only totaled 151K votes.
But the news gets worse for the OC GOP. Look at how poorly the Orange County Republican candidates for legislative offices did on June 7:
- The GOP nominees for the 46th Congressional District, Bob Peterson and Lynn Schott, totaled about 14K votes. The leading Democrat in that race, Lou Correa, had over 25K votes and he will easily defeat Peterson in November.
- Ling Ling Chang, the GOP nominee for the 29th State Senate District, received 41.6K votes this week. But her two Democratic opponents, Josh Newman and Irvine carpetbagger Sukhee Kang, totaled over 49K votes. If the Democrats in the 29th S.D. unite behind Newman, and the Democratic Party supports him, he could beat Chang in November.
- Sharon Quirk-Silva lost to Young Kim in the General Election two years ago, in the 65th Assembly District. But this week she got revenge when she totaled just over 30K votes while Kim got 26.8K votes. You have to figure that Quirk-Silva will easily win in November.
- Travis Allen, the incumbent Republican in the 72nd Assembly District, may be in trouble in November as well. He got just over 36K votes this week. His two Democratic opponents, Lenore Albert-Sheridan and Nam Pham, totaled about 35K votes. Allen will face off against Albert-Sheridan again in November. If the Democrats unite behind her it could be game over for Allen.
- Democrats are excited that their candidate, Karina Onofre, was the top vote-getter this week in the 74th Assembly District. But the incumbent Republican, Matt Harper, got 31K votes to Onofres 34K – while a third candidate, Republican Katherine Daigle, netted just over 15K votes. If the GOP voters unite behind Harper in November he will win reelection. But if they stay home, then Onofre has a fighting chance. However there are not many Latino voters in the 74th A.D. for her to draw from. And she actually took a vacation to Israel during her primary election campaign. She is going to have to focus on her general election campaign and hold off on any more vacations if she is to beat Harper.
- Orange County First District Supervisor Andrew Do, a Republican, is also in big trouble. He got 21.7K votes this week while the leading Democrat in that race, Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez, got 21.2K votes. A third candidate, Republican Phat Bui, got 11.6K votes. But if Bui’s bitter backers, who hate Do, vote for Martinez instead, it is conceivable that Martinez could win in November.
Trump is despised by most Latino voters. If they turn out in large numbers in November they could tilt many elections in favor of the Democrats, even here in Orange County!
The quandary for Orange County’s Republican candidates will be to steer clear of Trump without talking ill of him as they can ill afford to lose the votes of his ardent supporters.