1 Democrat, 5 Republicans enter Orange County’s special election for supervisor

The official deadline to run for a vacant seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors ended Monday with at least five Republicans and one Democrat in the race, a lopsided field that county GOP leaders fear could help Democrats gain a second seat on the five-member board.

The six-week sprint to the March 12 election will feature former congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, a Democrat, running against Irvine Mayor Don Wagner, Anaheim councilwoman Kris Murray, former Yorba Linda councilwoman Deborah Pauly and former Orange County employee Larry Bales, all Republicans. The winner will represent the county’s 3rd District.

The race officially is non-partisan but both major parties have offered endorsements. The Democratic Party of Orange County is endorsing Sanchez, who served as a congresswoman from Santa Ana for 20 years before a failed 2016 run for U.S. Senate. While other local Democrats considered running, leaders of the county party helped pare the field as a way to improve their chances of picking up a second board seat. That push culminated in a self-funded Democratic millionaire, Andy Thorburn, withdrawing from the race.

Republican party leaders had no such luck.

This month, the Republican Party of Orange County endorsed Wagner. Prominent Republicans also asked Murray to withdraw, even though she had been the first to declare her candidacy for the seat. Party leaders also urged other potential candidates — including some who didn’t file paperwork — not to run.

Murray, who served on the Anaheim council for eight years before leaving in January, said the county’s homeless population remains a key issue for her, and that she’ll point out to voters that she helped break up homeless encampments in Anaheim last year while improving homeless services. Known for using tax incentives to lure large developments to her city, Murray hopes to attract job creators to the county. Murray said her candidacy gives voters a broader choice for the seat.

“Democracy means giving voters options,” said Murray, who’s endorsed by the Orange County Business Council and Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. “Members of the 3rd District should not have hand-selected, ordained candidates.”

Wagner – who represented much of the 3rd District when he served in the state Assembly from 2010 to 2016 – also plans to make homelessness a focus of his campaign, noting that any solution must balance the needs of homeowners with the needs of the homeless. Last year, Wagner successfully opposed a homeless encampment from being put on Great Park land in Irvine. Going forward, Wagner said he’ll support long-term solutions rather than stopgaps.

He sees himself and the well-known Sanchez as the leaders in the race.

“I don’t think the other Republican candidates really have the experience or the name ID to galvanize the electorate,” said Wagner, who was re-elected mayor in November. “At the end of the day, I still like my chances.”

Pauly presents an ultraconservative option. The Orange resident and former Tea Partier made headlines six years ago for supporting a proposed state law in Arizona that would have forced some Latino residents to present identification to police upon request as a way to prove citizenship. She also has likened Obamacare to sodomy and once described attendees of a local Islamic charity event as “terrorists.”

Pauly drew a contrast with her competitors by saying she isn’t “beholden to any special interest groups.”

“I am obligated only to the citizens and (the) U.S. Constitution, which I vow to uphold,” Pauly said. “I’m running to give voters an independent option on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.”

Sanchez, who didn’t return calls for comment, has said she views the race as a chance for her to return to local politics and address regional problems, including housing affordability and homelessness.

“This (board seat) happens to hit into issue areas that I find important,” Sanchez, a resident of Orange, said in December. “The housing issue increasingly affects so many of us.”

Voter registration in the district favors the GOP by 3.8 percentage points, and the seat was most recently represented by Republican Todd Spitzer, who this month was sworn in as Orange County District Attorney. And while the district remains represented mostly by Republicans in Sacramento, voters there have demonstrated a willingness to vote Democrat, electing progressive Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-Irvine) in November.

The supervisor race is likely to draw heavy campaign spending by candidates fighting to become better known to voters in a brief period. Wagner has raised $94,500 this calendar year and loaned his campaign another $100,000. Sanchez has loaned her campaign $100,000 and raised $126,000 since mid-December, while Murray has raised $105,000, including her own gift to the campaign worth $50,000.

Also running is Bales, 76, a Republican and former deputy appraiser for the Orange County assessor’s office for 32 years. He’s perhaps best known publicly for being a whistleblower who, decades ago, exposed government failures and corruption within the office. Others in the race, according to county records, include Republican business owner Katherine Daigle from Irvine and Attorney Kim-Thy “Katie” Hoang Bayliss, a Tustin attorney whose party identification could not be ascertained.