Voters throughout Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Westminster and Fountain Valley are picking a new county supervisor tonight.
Initial results shortly after 8 p.m on Election Night show State Senator Janet Nguyen was in the lead with 60% of the vote, followed by Cypress City Councilwoman Frances Marquez with 39% – a difference of 29,612 votes.
Whoever wins will be taking over for Andrew Do, who recently resigned and pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges amidst questions on what happened to over $10 million in pandemic relief funds that were meant to help feed the elderly.
[Read: Former OC Supervisor Andrew Do Pleads Guilty to Bribery Scheme]
His sentence has not yet been decided, and multiple audits are currently underway at the county to figure out more of how the money was diverted.
Both candidates have pledged to support an independent, outside investigation into the county government, along with measures to possibly let the county auditor-controller reassert oversight of county supervisors that was stripped away years ago.
[Read: Santana: The Political Ghost of Andrew Do Haunts 1st District Race]
If Nguyen wins, she’ll be returning to a seat she left a decade ago amidst questions over her leading the county takeover of the public healthcare system for the elderly and the poor.
[Read: OC Grand Jury Issues Scathing Report on CalOptima]
She’s also faced questions about her connections to Do, who used to be her chief of staff and one of her tightest political allies before a public falling out nearly 10 years ago.
Nguyen massively outraised and outspent Marquez over the course of the campaign, raising $880,000 to Marquez’s $225,000 and receiving over $600,000 worth of advertising support from the county sheriff’s deputies union.
Marquez has promised to spearhead reforms in the county – calling on expanding the powers of the county ethics commission and eliminating discretionary spending funds for supervisors, like the ones Do used to send some of the money that was later used for bribes.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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