Latest tally in Orange County supervisor race shows Foley capturing 43.77% of the vote

With fewer than 500 ballots left to count following Tuesday’s special election for an open seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, the final vote tallies for each of five candidates in the race are falling into place.

Figures last updated by the Orange County Registrar of Voters showed turnout was higher than anticipated, with about 28% of the 395,296 voters in Supervisorial District 2 casting 110,612 ballots. Of those, nearly 95% were vote-by-mail, while 5,671 constituents visited in-person vote centers, records indicate.

While initial returns released Tuesday night showed Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley ahead of the pack with 45% of the vote, her lead over the second highest vote-getter, former state Sen. John Moorlach, had shrunk by Friday evening.

Updated figures showed Foley has so far received 48,277 votes — or 43.77% of votes cast — compared to Moorlach’s 34,707, which amounts to 31.47% of the vote.

Republican candidate Newport Beach Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Muldoon had inched up in ranking up Friday, earning 11.57% approval from the electorate with 12,759 ballots cast in his favor.

Fountain Valley Mayor Michael Vo had received 9,863 votes by Friday, for 8.94% of the vote while Corona del Mar international tax attorney Janet Rappaport earned the confidence of 4,688 voters, snagging 4.25% of votes cast.

Muldoon and Vo, conservative challengers to GOP frontrunner Moorlach — who was backed by the Republican Party of Orange County — were asked by party supporters to drop out of the race to avoid splitting Republican votes but refused.

Vo stated in December he didn’t feel Moorlach could secure a win against Foley, while Muldoon said he’d been campaigning for the District 2 seat for more than a year and didn’t wish to lose momentum.

Had both candidates opted not to run, and their so-far combined 22,622 votes had gone to Moorlach, the former senator would have had enough support to beat Foley. Instead, by 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Moorlach said he’d reached out to the Costa Mesa mayor conceding the contest.

Orange County Registrar of Voters spokeswoman Jackie Wu said officials anticipate releasing final figures ahead of a March 17 canvassing deadline. Until then, incremental updates will be made public at ocvote.com each day at 5 p.m. as the few remaining ballots are counted.

Registrar Neal Kelley is expected to deliver the official election results to the Board of Supervisors on March 23, at which point it is likely Foley will be sworn into office.

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