A New Look in a ‘GOP County’

Some ballots remain to be tallied and a recount is possible, but nine days after the election, conservative Republican Rep. Robert K. Dornan, a six-term incumbent in Orange County’s 46th Congressional District, appears to have lost his seat to Democrat Loretta Sanchez.

A Sanchez victory would be a stunning development. All the other Congress members and state Senate and Assembly representatives in Orange County are Republicans.

In past years, the absentee ballots favored the GOP, as the county’s Republican machine made sure its backers voted. This year Democrats pushed their supporters to get to the polls or to cast absentee ballots. Their efforts especially were aimed at the Latino community, a wise move in the blue-collar 46th, which includes Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana. Experts said after the election that Latino voting had reached a new high in the district.

Sanchez is a Latina and the district’s population is 50% Latino. The absentee ballots have gone largely for her. She also may have been aided in the district by President Clinton and two Latino Cabinet members. The energizing of the Latino community is welcome and should encourage Orange County’s other minorities to become more involved politically.

Dornan’s extreme politics and his antics finally appear to have caught up with him. Voters in the past indulged his flamboyant manner in opposing abortion rights and homosexuality as long as he appeared to attend to district business. But his quixotic bid for this year’s GOP presidential nomination did not sit well.

He has been a longtime critic of Clinton, but last year even fellow Republicans in Congress felt he went too far, notably when he said the president provided “aid and comfort to the enemy during the Vietnam War.” That comment was so far over the line that he was stripped of his floor speaking privileges for 24 hours, deservedly, and the comment was stricken from the official record.

Dornan yelled fraud when the election results turned against him but has produced no hard evidence to support the charge. He would have been better off honoring his promise of two years ago to make this his last term in Congress. Instead, the voters apparently held him to his word, supporting the young, energetic Sanchez. Whatever the final outcome, they deserve far less divisive and far more conscientious representation for their district in the coming term.