For progressives, last night’s election results were a bit of a bummer in some cases.
In the Fourth Supervisor’s contest, Fullerton City Councilman Shawn Nelson came out on top 12 points ahead of his closest opponent Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu. Councilwoman Lorri Galloway, also from Anaheim, squeezed out a third place finish by under 300 votes after trailing Buena Park Mayor Art Brown the entire evening. Having Shawn Nelson in the incumbent slot in November will not make the runoff any easier for Sidhu.
But the the biggest surprise to most observers was the election victory of Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Sandra Hutchens. Starting off with and early lead of 56% of the votes, Hutchens closed the night with just under 52% of the vote. Former Lt. Bill Hunt came in with 28% of the votes. Most observers figured there would be a Hutchens-Hunt face off in November. The lack of a competitive race here should be a relief to the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriff’s, leaving them one less race to focus on in November.
For me, the biggest surprise of the evening was not in any of the races that garnered most of the attention in Orange County. It was the race for the 2nd District Orange County Board of Education contest that surprised me. Incumbent and current Chair of the Board, Alexandria Coronado failed to win re-election, losing by just under 1,000 votes to David L. Boyd. With the numbers this close, it could still be possible for Coronado to catch up with late absentee ballots, but this result is comforting to those of us who were outraged over Coronado’s homophobic rhetoric last year over the state’s recognition of Harvey Milk Day.
We will be writing more on the election results later.
Even though she didn’t win the election, I’m looking forward to Lorri Galloway’s continued residence in downtown Anaheim. I mean, she couldn’t possibly move back to Anaheim Hills now, since she has all these connections here, and downtown is where her heart is, and all that — if she moved back to the Hills, it’d show that her residency was just a cynical sham to further her political career, right?
She lives in a beautfiul home in the district; it’s a nice neighborhood and close to her offices and City Hall. If Rose Espinsona had dropped out early on and Art Brown not run, it would have been a completely different race. But if “if’s and buts were candy and nuts” it’d be Christmas every day.
Dan I think that is the point that Kevin is trying to make. Lorri went on and on at every opportunity to tout her residency in a lovely historic home, and as you point out it is closer to her office than her Hills home. So it makes sense that she would remain in 5 Points, even now when she is no longer required to for the sake of carpetbagging. Perhaps I will drop by and leave her a Colony calender so she knows about the potlucks.