SANTA ANA, Calif.—State Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-Huntington Beach) will be returning to the Orange County Board of Supervisors after defeating Democratic Cypress City Councilwoman Frances Marquez in the battle to claim the seat previously held by Andrew Do, who resigned last week and pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge.
Although ballots were still being tallied, Nguyen had claimed 63 percent of the vote as of early Wednesday morning, compared to 37 percent for Marquez.
Do was once Nguyen’s chief of staff when she served on the Board of Supervisors, before he was elected to the Garden Grove City Council, then won a special election for Orange County supervisor when Nguyen became a state lawmaker.
The Board of Supervisors currently includes three Democrats: Katrina Foley, Vicente Sarmiento and Doug Chaffee. If Marquez had won the race for Do’s former seat, Chairman Don Wagner would have been the only Republican remaining. Wagner secured his position outright in the primary, avoiding a general election challenge.
Do was already set to be termed out of office at the end of the year, but he agreed to resign last week as part of a plea deal with federal and local prosecutors over an investigation into county COVID relief funds awarded to a nonprofit that employed Do’s daughter.
In another closely watched Orange County race, Republican 74th District Assemblywoman Laurie Davies was defeating Democrat Chris Duncan, a San Clemente City Councilman and former federal prosecutor. The district covers south Orange County and San Diego County.
As of early Wednesday, Davies had 52.6 percent of the vote, while Duncan had 47.4 percent.
In the District 37 state Senate race, Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) was trailing Republican former Irvine Mayor Steven Choi by about 14,000 votes, giving Choi 52.1 percent of the tally.
