As we enter the second weekend after Election Day, these local races in Orange County are still tight.

Other races may not be this close, but with an estimated 74,700 votes still to be counted in the county as of Friday evening, they could potentially see a change. As the Orange County Registrar of Voters continues to count votes, how the results turn out will affect who assumes control of the county’s cities and school boards.

Workers process ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, California, on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo: Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Workers process ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, California, on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo: Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Workers process ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, California, on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo: Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Workers process ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, California, on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo: Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Show Title

1 related to 4

Workers process ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, California, on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo: Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

expand

Here’s a breakdown of the closest races in the district as of Tuesday afternoon:

Aliso Viejo City Council, District 1

Tim Zandbergen: 2,466 votes (51.34%)

Jennifer Engel: 2,336 votes (48.65%)

Engel is a project manager. Zandbergen is a small business owner.

Costa Mesa City Council, District 6

Jeff Pettis: 4,260 votes (50.56%)

Jeffrey Harlan: 4,166 votes (49.44%)

Pettis is the director of Veterans Health and serves as the assistant chief nursing officer for mental health. Lawyer Harlan is on duty. He was first elected to office in 2020.

Cypress City Council, District 3

kyle chang: 1,909 votes (43.96%)

Mark H. Plager: 1,888 votes (43.47%)

Chang is a public health statistician. Plager is a small business owner. The two withdrew from a third candidate.

Cypress School District, Area E

Jamie Needham: 2,050 votes (50.97%)

Candi Kern: 1,972 votes (49.03%)

Needham is a parent and teacher with K-6 experience. Kern has served as a trustee of the Cypress School District for 12 years.

Fullerton City Council, District 4

Jamie Valencia: 3,305 votes (35.74%)

Vivian “Kitty” Jaramillo: 3,299 votes (35.66%)

The lead in this race has changed many times this week. These two candidates moved away from the other two candidates in the race. Jaramillo is a former city employee. Valencia is a registered nurse.

Fountain Valley School District

Ashley Ramirez: 10,045 votes (27.77%)

Huy Tran: 9,844 votes (27.21%)

Incumbent Steven Schultz easily won the first of the two seats at stake. Ramirez and Tran battle for second place. Ramirez is associate director of recruitment and admissions at UC Irvine. Tran is an assistant principal at Santiago High School in Garden Grove Unified.

Fullerton School District, District 5

Vanesa Estrella: 3,707 votes (51.27%)

Leonel Talavera: 3,523 votes (48.84%)

Incumbent Talavera has been in the position for four years. Estrella is an executive manager at a clothing business in Fullerton.

Garden Grove City Council, District 6

Ariana Arestegui: 3,159 votes (51.51%)

Tri Lam: 2,974 votes (48.49%)

Arestegui was elected to the Central Committee of the Orange County Democratic Party in March. Lam is a biomedical engineer and business owner.

Huntington Beach City School District, District 1

Brian Burley: 4,263 (50.76%)

Cindy Barrios: 4,135 (49.24%)

Burley is a business owner. Barrios is a parent and former intelligence analyst.

Irvine City Council, District 1

Melinda Liu: 5,729 votes (32.34%)

John Park: 5,645 votes (31.86%)

Liu and Park have withdrawn from three other candidates in the race to represent District 1 for a two-year term through 2026. Irvine moved to at-large county council elections this year, kicking off this unique two-year term.

Liu is a city finance commissioner and an attorney who focuses on estate planning and trusts. Park owns an advertising agency based in Irvine and is the city transportation commissioner.

Laguna Beach Unified School District

Sherry Morgan: 5,611 (23.26%)

Howard Hills: 5,514 (22.86%)

Jan Vickers: 5,331 (22.10%)

Voters choose two out of five candidates. Morgan and Hills took the lead, but Vickers, the only one in the race, was not far behind. The other two follow.

Morgan is a parent and business owner. hills one Lawyer with long history in Laguna politics. Vickers was first elected to the board in 2000.

La Habra City Council

Delwin “Del” Lampkin: 7,444 votes (16.03%)

Susan M. Pritchard: 7,191 votes (15.49%)

La Habra voters elect three at-large representatives from a field of six candidates. Incumbents Daren Nigsarian and Rose Espinoza secured re-election. The race for the third seat continues between Lampkin and Pritchard.

Lampkin is a deputy sheriff. Pritchard served on the La Habra City School District board and taught science more than 30 times in the town.

Los Alamitos City Council, District 1

Tanya Doby: 520 votes (51.90%)

Wendy Grose: 482 votes (48.10%)

Incumbent Doby and challenger Grose have at times been separated by narrow margins in the race to represent Los Alamitos District 1.

Doby, a small business owner, was elected to the council in 2020. Grose is a city planning commissioner.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District, District 1

Leah Ersoylu: 5,781 (51.73%)

Robin Mensinger: 5,394 (48.27%)

Ersoylu was elected to the board of directors in 2020. Mensinger runs a small business.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District, District 3

Carol Crane: 6,847 (51.71%)

Philip Stemler: 6,395 (48.29%)

Crane is in charge. Stemler is a corruption prosecutor with the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.

Santa Ana City Council, Ward 3

Jessie Lopez: 8,687 votes (50.86%)

Jeffrey Katz: 8,392 votes (49.14%)

Lopez was first elected to the City Council in 2020. Attorney Katz lost to Lopez in this race.

Santa Ana Unified School District, District 1

Brenda Lebsack: 6,024 (50.66%)

Rigo Rodriguez: 5,867 (49.34%)

Lebsack is a special education teacher. Incumbent Rodriguez was first elected to the board in 2016. She is an associate professor in the Department of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Cal State Long Beach.

Tustin City Council, District 1

Lee Fink: 3,939 votes (51.90%)

Tanner Douthit: 3,650 votes (48.10%)

Fink is a lawyer. Douthit is a planning commissioner.

Sunset Beach Sanitary District

John H. Woods: 401 votes (25.17%)

Graham Hoad: 326 votes (20.46%)

David E. Evans: 323 votes (20.28%)

John Dentzer: 281 votes (17.64%)

Peter Amundson: 262 votes (16.45%)

The Sunset Beach Sanitary District serves Sunset Beach and the Surfside Colony of Seal Beach in unincorporated Orange County. Voters were given the task of choosing four sanitary district directors from among five candidates.

Incumbents Woods, Hoad and Evans appear to have retained their seats. Dentzer and Amundson are in a close race for the final seat.

Yorba Linda City Council

Jess Battaglia: 12,498 votes (15.74%)

Shivinder Singh: 12,495 votes (15.74%)

Yorba Linder voters re-elected Tara Campbell and Peggy Huang. Battaglia and Singh are in a close race for the third open seat by three votes. Battaglia is a sales director. Singh is a city planning commissioner.