Election Day 2020 is finally here. Nearly 100 million Americans have already voted early, either in person or by mail. That compares with 127 million or so who voted in 2016. It is not likely a winner will be declared tonight. The trusted Associated Press won’t call a state unless the final outcome is not in doubt. Axios reported Donald Trump will declare victory at some point tonight and Trumpian Republican Lawyers are already filing lawsuits in largely Democratic counties and states to suppress the vote totals.
It’s important to note we do not have a single national election system. There are 50 statewide elections and counties drill these down even further. There’s no way the election is rigged unless you consider the Postmaster general has his thumb on the scale. I sent a check to one of my contractors last Tuesday who lives 10 miles from me; normally, she gets the check the next day. She got it Saturday. So I’m hopeful ballots are postmarked and delivered and counted.
My hope is that so many voters want Trump gone that the election outcome is obvious before you go to bed tonight. But, like the 2018 midterms, it will likely be at least a week (or more). Breathe. It’s going to be a long week.
The sites I’m following are www.fivethirtyeight.com, www.electoral-vote.com, and www.realclearpolitics.com.
Breathe.
Good luck to Democratic candidates up and down the ballot tonight and through to the final outcome. I will be paying close attention to the election in Irvine and Little Saigon through coastal OC.
The DPOC is hosting a watch party tonight and details are below:
What: Orange County Election Night Watch Party
When: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Where: Zoom. Register at orangecountydemocrats.com/nov3
Who: Hosted by the Democratic Party of Orange County, led by Chair and Democratic National Committee Member Ada Briceño
Media RSVP: Rachel Potucek, (562) 276-8514, rachel@ocdemocrats.org
Guests include:
Federal Leaders
Congressmember Gil Cisneros (CA-39)
Congressmember Harley Rouda (CA-48)
Congressmember Lou Correa (CA-46)
Congressmember Katie Porter (CA-45)*
Congressmember Alan Lowenthal (CA-47)*
Congressmember Mike Levin (CA-49)*
State Leaders
Fiona Ma, California State Treasurer
Alex Padilla, California Secretary of State*
Josh Newman for California State Senate District 29
Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (AD 65)
Scott Rhinehart for Assembly District 73
Melissa Fox for State Assembly District 68
Assemblymember Ash Kalra (AD 27)
Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (AD 80)
Local Leaders
Sergio Contreras for Orange County Board of Supervisors
Farrah Khan for Irvine Mayor
Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley
Tustin Mayor Pro Tem Letita Clark
Lauren Johnson-Norris for Irvine City Council
Thai Viet Phan for Santa Ana City Council
Eugene Fields for Orange City Council
Fred Jung for Fullerton City Council
Aaruni Thakur for Fullerton City Council
Faisal Qazi for Fullerton City Council
Chris Duncan for San Clemente City Council
Avelino Valencia for Anaheim City Council
Stephanie Oddo for Laguna Niguel City Council
Devon Gray for Placentia City Council
Loretta Sanchez for Rancho Santiago Community College District
Tiger Cosmos for Orange Unified School District
LaShe Rodriguez for Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
Democratic Party & Political Action Committee Leaders
Rusty Hicks, California Democratic Party Chair*
Jenny Bach, California Democratic Party Secretary
Christine Pelosi, DNC Member and Chair of the California Democratic Party Women’s Caucus
Melahat Rafiei, DNC Member
Susie Shannon, DNC Member
Andrew Lachman, DNC Member
Carolyn Fowler, DNC Member
Derek Devermont, DNC member
Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, Chair, Democratic Party of San Diego County
Joanna Weiss, Chair, WAVE
And more to be announced
*Invited
About the Democratic Party of Orange County
Once famously known as “Reagan country,” after President Reagan called Orange County the place where “all good Republicans go to die,” Orange County is rapidly shifting from a Republican stronghold into a highly diverse Democratic metropolis.
Chair Ada Briceno, a longtime labor organizer and Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11, was elected as a Democratic National Committee member in early 2020 and is the first immigrant to lead the Democratic Party of Orange County. Her executive leadership team includes Latino, Vietnamese, millennial, and LGBT representation, reflecting an increasingly diverse metropolitan region.
Democrats swept all seven Congressional seats in Orange County in 2018. Less than a year later, Democrats overtook countywide voter registration to become the region’s leading political party. Today, OC Democrats have gained more than a 2-point voter advantage over the GOP.
More than 221 Democrats are running for local offices in Orange County in 2020, nearly twice as many Democrats who sought local offices in 2018 and 2016.
Orange County is the nation’s sixth largest county, with 3.2 million residents and more than half a million registered Democratic voters.