Vicente Sarmiento Elected Santa Ana's First New Mayor Since 1994
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — Santa Ana City Councilman Vicente Sarmiento came out victorious in the race for mayor and will become the city's first new mayor since 1994.
Sarmiento emerged atop a six-candidate field in Tuesday's election and will replace termed-out Mayor Miguel Pulido, who has been on the City Council since 1986 and served as mayor since 1994.
Former council members Claudia Alvarez and Cecilia Iglesias, and current member Jose Solorio were also running to replace Pulido.
Sarmiento has been on the council since 2007.
Meanwhile, Republican Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, the vice-chairman of the board, appeared to have emerged victorious in his bid for another term, outlasting Democratic Westminster City Councilman Sergio Contreras.
It was unclear how many ballots remain to be counted in the race, but Do had roughly 53% of the vote on Wednesday.
In Senate District 29, former Sen. Josh Newman was nearing a return to Sacramento. He was holding a narrow lead Wednesday over incumbent GOP Sen. Ling Ling Chang. Chang replaced Newman in the Senate when Newman was recalled in 2018, after he cast a decisive vote for a gas tax increase.
Meanwhile, Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, was running behind UC Irvine law professor Dave Min, 51.93% to 48.07%, in Senate District 37.
Moorlach said Min jumped out to a large lead when the polls closed, but it shrank throughout the night.
"If that holds then we might have a surprise tonight," Moorlach said Wednesday. "Right now I haven't lost, but I haven't won, so I'm in limbo."
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)