Amezcua leads early Santa Ana mayoral count as council races take shape

Mayor Valerie Amezcua led Santa Ana’s preliminary mayoral returns, while Ben Vazquez, Sandra De Anda and Isuri Ramos held early leads in their City Council races, according to Voice of OC. Ballot processing continued, and the results were not final.

The races come as Santa Ana faces a structural budget deficit and demands for police accountability, Voice of OC reported. More than 246,500 ballots still awaited processing across Orange County on Wednesday morning; that figure covers the county, not Santa Ana alone.

According to Voice of OC, Amezcua had about 46% of the mayoral vote, compared with roughly 40% for Dan Shimell and 14% for Dwayne Shipp. More than 40,900 votes had been counted in that race.

In Ward 2, incumbent Councilmember Ben Vazquez led Selica Diaz with approximately 72% to 28%, the publication reported. The early returns put Vazquez ahead despite outside spending opposing his candidacy.

Sandra De Anda held about 53% of the Ward 4 vote against incumbent Councilmember Phil Bacerra’s 47%. Her lead was 533 votes, with more than 7,700 votes counted, according to Voice of OC.

In Ward 6, Isuri Ramos was ahead of Giovanni Chavez by 379 votes. Ramos had roughly 53% to Chavez’s 47%, with more than 5,400 votes counted.

Campaign spending included more than $240,000 from the Santa Ana police union to support local council candidates and about $33,000 to oppose two council candidates as of Oct. 24, Voice of OC reported. The California Association of Realtors Political Action Committee separately spent more than $130,000 opposing Vazquez by that date.

OC Action backed De Anda and Ramos, while the OC Firefighters union supported Amezcua, Bacerra, Diaz and Chavez, according to the publication.

The preliminary margins remain subject to change as ballots are processed. The countywide backlog does not establish how many outstanding ballots belong to any individual Santa Ana race.