By Donna Furey | LB Indy
Just 17 percent of registered voters showed up or mailed a ballot in this week’s primary election, where the most popular two candidates for state and national posts regardless of party will compete against one other in the November general election.
Laguna Beach local Neel Kashkari, a former Treasury official and a Republican, garnered 30 percent of the votes cast for governor and will run against Democratic incumbent Jerry Brown, who received 39 percent of the vote.
In the 74th Assembly district of the state legislature, another local, Emanuel Patrascu, who ran and lost a bid for the Laguna Beach City Council in 2010, won 12.3 percent of the votes, according to the county Registrar of Voters. Results by Laguna Beach precincts were not immediately available.
Patrascu trailed far behind Keith Curry, a Republican and member of the Newport Beach City Council, who won 28 percent of the vote. Curry will compete in November against a fellow Republican, Matthew Harper, who garnered 24 percent of the ballots cast. The only candidate endorsed by the Democratic Party in that race was Anila Ali, who received 20 percent of the vote.
The central coastal district spans Costa Mesa to Laguna Beach.
Dana Rohrabacher, of Huntington Beach, received 55.2 percent of the votes for the 48th Congressional seat, a larger central coastal area between Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel. Democrat Suzanne Savary, a retired UC professor from Newport Beach, received 19.8 percent of the vote. She will challenge the incumbent Republican, who won the post-reapportionment seat with 60 percent of the vote in 2012.
In the race for judicial office No. 20 in the Orange County Superior Court, Derek G. Johnson beat his challenger, Laguna Beach lawyer Helen Hayden.
Of four candidates vying to succeed Patricia Bates, vacating the non-partisan Fifth District seat on the county Board of Supervisors, the top two vote getters were Robert Ming and Lisa Bartlett. Ming, a Laguna Niguel City Council member, garnered 29.4 percent of the vote, while Lisa Bartlett, the outgoing mayor of Dana Point, received 29 percent.
Incumbent Assessor Webster Guillory retained his position with 47 percent of the vote.
The county treasurer, Eric Wollery, won the post of auditor-controller with 57 percent of the vote.
Hugh Nguyen won 60 percent of the vote to hold the job as clerk-recorder.
With 73 percent of the vote, Tony Rackauckas held his position as district attorney-public administrator against a challenge by government accountability attorney Greg Diamond.
The unopposed offices of county schools superintendent, sheriff-coroner and treasurer-tax collector will continue to be held by incumbents Al Mijares, Sandra Hutchens and Shari Freidenrich, respectively.
Voters approved state Measure 41, the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act, and Measure 42, which requires local governments to pay the cost of complying with the records and meetings laws, an expense the state previously was required to pay.
Measure A, regarding the pensions of local officials, also passed with a resounding 88 percent of votes cast.
