Campbell claims victory

State senator wins easily in race to fill 48th District seat once held by Cox.Republican state Sen. John Campbell won handily in Tuesday’s 48th Congressional District special election and will take over the seat left vacant by former Rep. Chris Cox of Newport Beach.

With all 268 precincts reporting, Campbell finished with 44.7% of the vote. His vote total, 41,450, was more than 15,500 better than that of the second-place finisher, Democrat Steve Young, who finished with 28%. American Independent Party candidate Jim Gilchrist was in third place with 25.1% of the vote.

Green Party candidate Béa Tiritilli garnered 1.3% of the vote, and Libertarian Bruce Cohen finished with 0.9%.

Of the district’s 405,655 registered voters, 23% cast ballots in the election, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

Campbell, widely regarded as the favorite throughout the campaign, announced victory at 9:45 p.m. with the majority of precincts reporting. He addressed a crowd of more than 200 people who gathered at Saleen Inc. in Irvine.

“Congressional elections are about individuals who are running,” Campbell said in a phone interview. He answered the phone by saying, “congressman-elect John Campbell.”

“I’d like to think people thought I did a good job in the Legislature in the last five years. I won’t let them down.”

During the campaign, Campbell received support from big-name GOP supporters, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as county and state Republican organizations.

“We were pretty confident [of victory],” Campbell said. “We’ve been polling and had an idea of where we were.”

The election cycle began when Chris Cox, who had held the congressional seat since 1988, became chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in August.

The 48th Congressional District includes Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Irvine and all or part of nine other coastal or south Orange County cities.

Both Young and Gilchrist said Tuesday night they planned to run in other elections.

Young, whose campaign centered on a creating a business-friendly environment and cutting wasteful federal spending, said he looked forward to a future race.

“How about a big hand for Jim Gilchrist for splitting the Republican vote,” he told campaign supporters Tuesday night.

Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project who made illegal immigration a hot-button issue throughout the congressional campaign, criticized Campbell for claiming victory so early in the night.

He vowed to continue his political battle, saying that he isn’t a one-issue candidate and that this wasn’t a one-issue election.

“This is a start,” Gilchrist said from a Lake Forest restaurant as he watched poll results. “This is round one of a 10-round fight.”