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Initial Election Night tallies in Anaheim showed leads for Parks and Recreation Commissioner Ryan Balius in the District 1 race, Councilwoman Norma Campos Kurtz in the District 4 race and Kristen Maahs in the District 5 race.
The results shortly after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night showed Parks and Recreation Commissioner Balius leading their opponent former Anaheim Housing and Community Development commissioner Ojaala Ahmad by over 4,000 votes in the District 1 race.
In District 4, Kurtz led her opponent, aircraft mechanic Francisco Rosas, by over 2,800 votes.
In District 5, Culture and Heritage Commissioner Kristen Maahs led two opponents, former La Mirada Mayor and former police officer Andrew Sarega, by 1,116 votes and Disneyland resort employee Cristal Ruiz by over 1,800 votes.
The 2024 election comes more than two years after a corruption scandal first broke in OC’s largest city, in which FBI agents and later city hired investigators alleged Disneyland resort influences hold outsized influence on city hall.
The scandal also saw former Mayor Harry Sidhu resign and plead guilty to obstruction of justice for lying to federal investigators about trying to ram through the Angel Stadium sale for $1 million in campaign support.
The stadium land sale itself fell apart the same day Sidhu resigned.
Months after Sidhu’s resignation, voters elected two resort-backed city council candidates and two candidates who campaigned on bringing reform to Anaheim.
Last fall, Anaheim officials discussed, debated and implemented a host of reforms.
Some of the overhauls include requiring officials to use government phones, requiring council members to post their calendars online so residents can see who they’re meeting with and mandating Disney’s in-house lobbyists to register with the city.
Disney again spent heavily on local elections in Anaheim this year.
Instead of using their chief local political spending vehicle, Support Our Anaheim Resort (SOAR) political action committee, they are spending through other committees targeting different districts.
As of last week, the entertainment juggernaut has spent nearly $950,000 this far across three political action committees – one supporting Kurtz, another supporting Balius and one supporting Maahs.
[Read: Disney Spends Nearly $1 Million in Anaheim 2024 Election]
Hoteliers and hospitality interests like William O’Connell and the Marriott International as well as the California Association of Realtors have also spent tens of thousands of dollars in support of those candidates through the same PACs.
Meanwhile, the Anaheim Police Officers Association has spent nearly $192,000 on Maahs’ opponent on Sarega as of last week.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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