This year marked the first time that The Orange County Register endorsed candidates for office. While the paper has endorsed for or against ballot measures on a regular basis, this was the paper’s first foray into endorsing City Council candidates.
So here’s who they endorsed, and whether the candidate won or loss (I should note these numbers are subject to change pending further results from the Registrar of Voters, as there are several close races, including, but not limited to, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Mission Viejo, Tustin, and Yorba Linda):
Aliso Viejo (1-2)
W: William “Bill” Phillips
L: Greg Ficke
L: Don Garcia
Anaheim (1-1)
W: Lucille Kring
L: John Leos
Brea (1-1)
W: Marty Simonoff
L: Steven Vargas
Buena Park (1-0)
W: Fred Smith
Costa Mesa (2-1)
W: Steve Mensinger
W: Gary Monahan
L: Colin McCarthy
Cypress (0-0)
No endorsement
Dana Point (1-1)
W: Carlos N. Olvera
L: Ed Stevenson
Fountain Valley (1-1)
W: Steve A. Nagel
L: Patrick Tucker
Fullerton (3-0)
W: Bruce Whitaker
W: Jennifer Fitzgerald
W: Travis Kiger
Garden Grove (0-0)
No endorsement
Huntington Beach (1-2)
W: Dave Sullivan
L: Erik Peterson
L: Barbara Delgleize
Irvine (2-1)
W: Steven S. Choi (Mayor)
W: Christina Shea
L: Lynn Schott
La Habra (0-0)
Uncontested
La Palma (1-2)
W: Peter Kim
L: Robert Carruth
L: Sylvia Colannino Smith
Laguna Beach (1-0)
W: Steve Dicterow
Laguna Hills (1-1)
W: Andrew Blount
L: Raghu P. Mathur
Laguna Niguel (2-1)
W: Jerry McCloskey
W: Laurie Davies
L: Brad Barber
Laguna Woods (3-0)
W: Cynthia S. Conners
W: Milton W. Robbins
W: Noel Hatch
Lake Forest (1-1)
W: Dwight Robinson
L: Jim Gardner
Los Alamitos (1-0)
W: Richard D. Murphy
Mission Viejo (1-1)
W: Frank Ury
L: Wendy Bucknum
Newport Beach (0-0)
Uncontested
Orange (1-2)
W: Tita Smith (Mayor)
L: Ray Grangoff
L: Richard Callahan
Placentia (3-0)
W: Jeremy Yamaguchi
W: Scott Nelson
W: Constance “Connie” Underhill
Rancho Santa Margarita (3-0)
W: Tony Beall
W: Carol Gamble
W: Brad McGirr
San Clemente (0-2)
L: Jim Dahl
L: Mike Mortenson
San Juan Capistrano (1-1)
W: Roy L. Byrnes
L: Kim McCarthy
Santa Ana (0-1)
L: Charles Hart
Seal Beach (0-0)
Uncontested
Stanton (2-0)
W: Carol Warren
W: Al Ethans
Tustin (2-1)
W: John Nielsen
W: Charles E. “Chuck” Puckett
L: Tracy Worley Hagen
Villa Park (0-0)
Uncontested
Westminster (0-3)
L: Ha Minch Mach (Mayor)
L: Charlie Nguyen Manh Chi
L: Helena Rutkowski
Yorba Linda (2-1)
W: Mark Schwing
W: Eugene J. “Gene” Hernandez
L: Nancy Rikel
The Register went 39-27 in Council races (2-1 in mayoral races if you count those separately from Council races), endorsing the winner 59% of the time.
On ballot measures, here’s what happened with The Register’s endorsements:
| Ballot Measure | OC Register | OC Voters | Statewide Voters |
| Proposition 30 | No | No | Yes |
| Proposition 31 | No | No | No |
| Proposition 32 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Proposition 33 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Proposition 34 | No | No | No |
| Proposition 35 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Proposition 36 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Proposition 37 | No | No | No |
| Proposition 38 | No | No | No |
| Proposition 39 | No | Yes | Yes |
| Proposition 40 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Measure M (Coast Community College District – Needs 55% to Pass) | No | Yes | – |
| Measure N (Fountain Valley School District – Needs 55% to Pass) | No | No | – |
| Measure O (La Habra City School District – Needs 55% to Pass) | No | Yes | – |
| Measure P (Ocean View School District – Needs 55% to Pass) | No | No | – |
| Measure Q (Rancho Santiago Community College District – Needs 55% to Pass) | No | Yes | – |
| Measure S (Tustin Unified School District – Needs 55% to Pass) | No | Yes | – |
| Measure T (Brea) | No | Yes | – |
| Measure U (Brea) | No | No | – |
| Measure V (Costa Mesa) | Yes | No | – |
| Measure W (Fullerton) | Yes | No | – |
| Measure X (Fullerton) | Yes | Yes | – |
| Measure Y (Garden Grove) | No | Yes | – |
| Measure Z (Huntington Beach) | Yes | No | – |
| Measure AA (Huntington Beach) | Yes | Yes | – |
| Measure BB (Irvine) | No | Yes | – |
| Measure CC (Laguna Beach) | No | No | – |
| Measure DD (Los Alamitos) | No | Yes | – |
| Measure EE (Newport Beach) | No | Yes | – |
| Measure FF (Orange) | Yes | No | – |
| Measure GG (Santa Ana) | No | Yes | – |
| Measure HH (Tustin) | Yes | Yes | – |
On statewide ballot measures, The Register went 10-1 (91%) with Orange County voters but 7-4 (64%) with California voters.
On local ballot measures, The Register went 7-14 (33%) with the voters.
I’ll still be number crunching over the next days and weeks, but despite what looks like a dismal endorsement record, it appears The Register was actually middle of the pack on their endorsement success rate in Orange County.
