Orange County votes Becerra for governor, remains purple political terrain – Los Angeles Times

Orange County votes Becerra for governor, remains purple political terrain  Los Angeles Times

Before Democrats stunned Texas in this week's midterm elections, Orange County made national headlines in 2018 as a famously conservative stronghold washed over by an electoral “blue wave” that swept all its congressional seats. Eight years later, a majority of O.C. voters lean Democrat as early returns for top of the ticket races show, but the results underscore a persistently purple county politics. As of Thursday afternoon, 54% of the county’s voters picked Democrat Xavier Becerra to be California’s next governor. Republican Steve Hilton, who touted the endorsement of President Trump, received roughly 46% of O.C.'s vote. The governor’s race was more competitive in this county than across the state where Becerra claimed 64.5% of the vote to become the first Latino elected to the position in the state’s history.

Los Angeles County favored Becerra by 72% while San Diego County topped out at 60% support for the candidate. The early returns align with a “Still Purple” poll by the UCI School of Social Ecology in April ahead of the primary election found that O.C. remained politically competitive as 34% of residents identified as Democrats, 30% identified as Republicans and 36% identified as independent or something else. “What that is telling us is that Orange County voters are much more evenly split than elsewhere in the state,” said Jon Gould,