Democratic state Senator Josh Newman was falling behind Republican challenger Steven Choi, a former state assemblyman, in the race for the newly redistricted 37th state senate district.
As of 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, Choi was ahead of Newman by more than 14,000 votes – a margin of 4%.
The 37th district is a new race for both Choi and Newman after redistricting shifted the area’s boundaries, stretching it through Irvine, Newport Beach Fullerton, Costa Mesa, Lake Forest, Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel – along with pieces of Anaheim and Orange.
The new district’s voter registration also slightly favors Newman, with over 36% of the registered voters in the district identifying as Democrat compared to 33.4% identifying as Republican, while 24.2% of voters have no party preference.
Newman also fundraised more than 10 times what Choi did, according to campaign finance disclosures, disclosing over $5 million raised compared to Choi’s $465,000.
Newman also received more institutional support than Choi did according to state disclosures, which show he received north of $2.1 million in support from outside spending.
There was also over $1 million spent against Newman by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3229.
Choi received $220,000 in outside support, and had over $500,000 spent directly opposing his run for office.
State Senator Dave Min, the incumbent for the 37th district, is currently running for Congress against Scott Baugh and was narrowly losing as of 1 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Newman was first elected to the state Senate in 2016, recalled in 2018 over the gas tax, and was successfully reelected in 2020.
Choi has served in various elected offices throughout the county since 1998 when he first ran for the Irvine Unified School Board, later serving on the Irvine City Council and as the city’s state assemblyman when he was elected in 2016.
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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