Foley wins Costa Mesa City Council seat easily; Righeimer’s No. 2 spot is a squeaker

School board trustee Katrina Foley held a commanding lead in the race for two seats on the Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday night, with incumbent Mayor Jim Righeimer narrowly taking the second spot.

Foley and Righeimer were the apparent front runners in a field of eight vying for spots on the five-member council, according to county registrar results as of 11:30 p.m. and with all 70 precinct results in.

“We must’ve called 5,000 voters with our resident volunteers out of my house in the last three days,” Foley said. “It feels really good that our community cared so much to vote and send a strong message.”

Righeimer was slightly ahead of Humphrey — less than 1 percentage point — making for a tight race for the second spot.

Humphrey noted that “until the race is finished, it isn’t finished.”

He added that he felt good about the results thus far.

“I’m really pleased where things stand right now,” Humphrey said. “I’m happy the process to get here has worked out the way it has. It’s been great. You can’t ask for better people to support you.”

The mayor acknowledged he was in a close race.

“I think we ran a campaign and we said what we’re about,” Righeimer said. “The citizens have to make a decision, and we’ll stand by their decision.”

Humphrey, who campaigned alongside Foley, served one term on the council from 1990 to 1994. He has been active in city issues in recent years, often taking stances against the Righeimer-led council majority.

Righeimer’s campaign, supported in large part by regional business interests, contrasted with Foley’s, who had a large donor base of locals as well as organized labor.

The six remaining candidates — retired businessman Lee Ramos, sports agent Christopher Bunyan, retired certified public accountant Al Melone, congressional aide Tony Capitelli and retired Automobile Club consultant Rita Simpson — were far behind the top three as of Tuesday night.

Ramos was coming in fourth.

Councilwoman Wendy Leece, after eight years on the council, is termed out. She ran for a seat on the Orange County Water District, though as of Tuesday, was far behind incumbent district President Shawn Dewane, who also serves on the Mesa Water District.

Righeimer, a conservative first elected in 2010, has been a dynamic but divisive figure in Costa Mesa’s political scene whose battles have included high-profile fights with organized labor and the Costa Mesa police union. Still, supporters contend that his decisions have helped promote new quality development — such as bringing new luxury apartments to the Costa Mesa Motor Inn and establishing new high-end housing in the Westside — and reigned in city overspending.

Righeimer campaigned on his budgetary record of reverse deficits and investment of reserves in capital improvement projects. He also far led the pack in terms of fundraising, with about $150,000 raised as of Oct. 31.

Foley’s campaign to return to City Hall after serving four years for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board was fueled by positions that opposed Righeimer’s. Restoring public safety personnel was a cornerstone of her message, which included criticism that Righeimer’s time on the council led to understaffing at the Police Department.

Foley, an attorney who served on the council from 2004 to 2010, also called for the council to spend less on attorney fees, which she calculated at nearly $175,000 a month. Her campaign donors included organized labor — namely $5,000 from Newport Beach’s police union — and local residents.

Ramos’ entry into the race in late 2013 was notable; he was one of few Latinos to run for the council. Costa Mesa is about 36% Hispanic, though no council member has identified as such in the city’s 61-year history.

Ramos, a Costa Mesa resident for more than 65 years, has never made his ethnicity a campaign issue. He hosted weekly meet-and-greets and took to the streets to appeal to voters. Last month, he estimated that he personally knocked in 7,000 doors.

Ramos, a Righeimer ally, was heavily supported by GROW Elect, a political action committee that assists Republican Latino candidates.

Capitelli, who works for U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), and Simpson were first-time candidates. Capitelli, who was in a distant fifth place behind Ramos, made addressing the city’s homeless population a major campaign issue, while Simpson stressed the need for a city charter under Measure O.

This year was Bunyan’s third attempt at the council, after two failed runs in 2006 and 2008. As of Tuesday night, he was last in the field of eight candidates.

The Banning Ranch critic ran a non-traditional campaign that included small amounts of fundraising, a roughly 13-mile run through the city and creative graphics arts on his Facebook candidacy page.

Melone last ran in 2012 and, along with Simpson, did not actively raise funds. He called for more robustly boosting city reserves and addressing the ill effects of the wild coyote population on household pets.

As of Tuesday night, Melone was in sixth place, less than a percentage point behind Simpson.