Alicia RobinsonFinal results from Tuesday’s election followed...

Alicia Robinson

Final results from Tuesday’s election followed the trend of early

returns, which showed a Republican sweep of Newport-Mesa’s state and

federal offices.

There wasn’t much nail-biting going on Tuesday night, as Orange

County is so Republican that essentially “the elections were held in

March,” UC Irvine political science professor Mark Petracca said.

Rep. Chris Cox, a Newport Beach Republican, easily won reelection

and took the greatest percentage of votes among GOP state and federal

candidates, winning 64.6% of the votes in the 48th Congressional

District. In January, Cox will begin his ninth term in Congress.

Cox expects to remain chairman of the House Policy Committee, but

his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee awaits a decision

on the committee’s status. One of the first tasks in the new

legislative session will be discussing changes to the House rules to

make the Homeland Security Committee permanent, Cox said.

His equally tenured colleague, Huntington Beach Rep. Dana

Rohrabacher, did almost as well, snagging 63.1% of votes in the

heavily Republican 46th Congressional District.

Heading to the state Senate will be Assemblyman John Campbell, who

beat Democratic and Libertarian opponents with 63.4% of the votes in

the 35th Senate District.

Compared with his fellow party members, Libertarian candidate

Timothy Johnson did well in his bid for the 35th District Senate

seat, winning 4.7% of votes, while Libertarians failed to get even 4%

in other Newport-Mesa races. However, Johnson was still disappointed.

“I had a goal going into this of coming out with about 10%, and I

thought getting out and door-knocking and meeting people would really

make a difference,” he said. “I felt like I really poured a lot of

myself into this campaign. I met a lot of people, talked to some

great folks, and it really didn’t seem like it was enough.”

After winning 60.7% of votes cast Tuesday, political newcomer

Chuck DeVore will take over the 70th District Assembly seat in

January.

The 68th District Assembly seat will be filled by Van Tran, a

Garden Grove City Councilman who captured 58.1% of the district’s

votes. Tran, the first Vietnamese American to be elected to a state

legislature, anticipated challenges as a member of the Republican

minority.

“The state budget deficit is still an albatross around

California’s neck, and we still need to balance that deficit,” he

said. “It’s expected the next fiscal year we’re going to have a $6

billion to $8 billion deficit.”

Being a former Republican didn’t help Newport Beach Libertarian

Jim Gray in his race against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who

easily won reelection with 58% of the vote statewide. Gray netted

2.8% of Orange County votes but only 1.7% of ballots cast in the

state.

Gray struggled to no avail to be included in polling and a

televised debate between Boxer and Republican rival Bill Jones. He

thought his message of fiscal responsibility, legalization of

marijuana and repealing the Patriot Act would find a better reception

with voters, Gray said.

“I expected to do better,” he said. “I am not a politician, and I

have the votes to prove it.”

Petracca said voters can expect the status quo from their new and

returning legislators, with state Republican officials fighting an

uphill battle against majority Democrats.

“I don’t see how you play in Sacramento if you’re on the far

right, because the Republican Party doesn’t control anything in the

state legislature except maybe the key to their own bathroom,” he

said.