Republican Assemblywoman Janet Nguyen held a solid lead over Democratic Huntington Beach City Councilwoman Kim Carr as ballot counts posted Tuesday night in the race for the new coastal Senate District 36.
Results could change as more ballots are tallied. Check back for updates, which may continue over the next few days if results narrow.
The 36th Senate district includes Orange and Los Angeles counties, from Cerritos down to Cypress and Seal Beach and then stretching down the coast to San Clemente. It leans narrowly red, which added to advantages Nguyen had in name recognition and partisan trends heading into Election Day.
“We are very pleased with the results so far and expect Janet’s margin of victory to increase as more votes are counted in the coming days,” Dave Gilliard with Nguyen’s campaign said late Tuesday night.
Janet Nguyen
Nguyen came out on top in the June primary – and she’s served in the state Senate before as well as on the OC Board of Supervisors.
From Huntington Beach, Nguyen pointed to high crime, homelessness, and increasing cost of living as top priorities she’d like to tackle in the upper chamber if elected to the new district. When it comes to education, Nguyen would like to see greater protections for charter schools and more choices for parents to determine where to send their children to school.
Nguyen does not support a minimum wage increase; she argued that “would only make inflation worse.”
She describes herself as “conservative, compassionate, and reflective of the people I represent.”
Kim Carr
Now a Huntington Beach councilwoman, Carr has worked in her city on the Public Works Commission as well as on the General Plan Advisory Committee. She is a former national sales manager for a San Diego-based television station where she handled advertising and marketing campaigns, according to her city biography.
Carr pinpointed homelessness and affordability as two of the biggest issues she would like to tackle if elected to the position. She would like to see greater funding for mobile crisis units to respond to emergency calls for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis and wants to see more resources go toward attracting and retaining quality teachers.
Carr describes herself as “fiscally conservative (and) socially liberal.”
Elections officials will continue counting mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Tuesday, Nov. 8, into next week. Check back for updates if results change as new vote counts come in.
