Ashleigh Aitken jumped out to an early lead for Anaheim mayor while Natalie Rubalcava pulled ahead for the District 3 council seat after the close of polls Tuesday night.
Big decisions lie ahead for the Anaheim City Council and voters are deciding the roster of elected officials who could govern some of that decision-making.
LIVE ELECTION RESULTS: See a chart of the latest vote counts
Mayor Aitken is fending off challenges from newcomers Alfredo Rodriguez, a general manager at a local environmental services company, and physician Imran Sharief for the at-large seat that leads Orange County’s most populous city of some 350,000 residents.
Aitken holds the lead with more than 57% of the vote or 32,811 votes to Rodriguez’s 18,279.
“This is going to be a high turnout election, which is a wonderful thing for Anaheim and our democracy,” Aitken said in a text Tuesday night shortly after the polls closed.
“Anaheim residents came out to vote in our election because they care about our city’s future. They chose our neighborhoods over the noise,” she said. “Decisions are made by those who show up! I’ll always show up for Anaheim, and hope to continue my fight for our city as Mayor.”
Voters elected Aitken to her first term in 2022, supporting her rise as the city’s first female-elected mayor.
But Aitken’s reelection bid this time around has been tainted by allegations of intoxication and that she directed racist remarks and inappropriate sexual orientation questions at her chief of staff. The city has launched an independent investigation.
Aitken has since disclosed that she has an “unhealthy relationship with alcohol,” for which she said she’s been getting help. But she has also repeatedly denied the slurs being attributed to her.
“I’m a hometown kid,” Aitken said. “I believe voters looked at what matters to their families and realized I’m the only one with the heart to help.”
Mayor contender Sharief, when results first went live Tuesday night, trailed behind Aitken and Rodriguez.
“I think we are going to stay positive and wait on mail-in ballots,” he said, adding he was hoping to connect with voters on quality of life issues, such as needs to address “graffiti, theft, car-jacking, burglary and other things.”
“And public safety and City Hall transparency and economy are really important questions,” he added, “so we’ve been connecting with voters, door-to-door.”
In the race for District 3, which represents the city’s historic colony, Packing District and some 55,000 residents, incumbent Rubalcava is facing nonprofit director Elia Renteria-Garcia for another four-year term. Rubalcava leads with 5,372 votes to 3,023 for Renteria-Garcia.
“We’re excited but it’s still early,” Rubalcava said of her early lead.
“Over the campaign we knocked on a lot of doors,” she said, adding she’s heard diverse feedback from District 3 residents, including a need for more parking and addressing homelessness, but “the general feedback that we’re seeing is that they’re happy.”
“I’m pretty accessible,” Rubalcava said. “I’ve been born and raised here. Serving on the Anaheim city council has been the honor of a lifetime.”
The Anaheim City Council is poised to make some big decisions for the city in the next few years, including when more than $120 million will be freed up annually for spending on city needs and when councilmembers should have delivered to them an assessment on Angel Stadium’s condition.
And, on the other side of the 5 Freeway, the $5 billion OCVibe development is rising up around the city-owned Honda Center. The next four-year term could see some early phases of the development completed, including improvements to the Honda Center and a new museum by Japan’s teamLab that will be the art collective’s first permanent presence in the United States.
Councilmembers Carlos Leon and Natalie Meeks were unopposed for second terms representing Districts 2 and 6.
The OC Registrar of Voters will update results daily at 5 p.m., except weekends, until the counting is complete.