Will another Democrat be elected to represent Yorba Linda in special election for supervisor?

Yorba Linda residents might find themselves represented by another Democrat in an elective position, based on the party affiliation of the better-known candidates in the March 12 special election to fill a vacant seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

The most prominent candidates to fill the unexpired 3^rd District term of Todd Spitzer, elected District Attorney in November, include three Republicans and one Democrat, all expected to raise enough funds to be competitive in a race that's drawn seven contenders.

Based on the district's party registration – 34.8 percent Republican, 31.1 percent Democratic and 30.1 percent “no party preference” – a likely scenario is that the Republicans will split the GOP vote, allowing the Democrat to win the contest.

Some Yorba Linda Republicans are still stunned by last year's election of Gil Cisneros as the first Democrat to represent the community in Congress, so a Democratic supervisor could be a second punch for one of only two county cities with a majority GOP voter registration.

Yorba Linda's 42,869 registered voters represent about 13 percent of the district's 339,550 registrants. Other cities: Orange (21 percent of district voters), Tustin (11 percent) and Villa Park, the other county city with a Republican registration of more than 50 percent (1.3 percent).

Included in the 258-square-mile district are portions of Irvine (33 percent of district voters), Anaheim (13 percent) and county territory (8 percent), making the district second largest in land and fourth largest in population of five supervisorial districts.

Supervisor positions are non-partisan, but the county's two major party organizations, the Democratic and Republican central committees, have endorsed candidates in the contest,

as the groups do in most city council and many school and water board elections.

The 52-member GOP committee endorsed Don Wagner on a motion by Yorba Linda Council-man Gene Hernandez. The strongest objection came from a former Villa Park councilwoman, Deborah Pauly, who is also running for the position.

Attorney Wagner is a former community college trustee and state Assemblyman who was re-elected Irvine mayor last year. Also in the contest is Kris Murray, a former two-term Anaheim councilwoman who is endorsed by Yorba Linda Mayor Pro Tem Beth Haney.

Yorba Linda Mayor Tara Campbell, Councilwoman Peggy Huang and Hernandez endorsed Wagner.

The 60-member Democratic committee endorsed former Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez for the position. Sanchez was elected to the House in 1996 by upsetting GOP stalwart Bob Dornan and retired in 2016 to seek the Senate seat won by Kamala Harris last year.

Other candidates include attorney Kim-Thy “Katie” Hoang Bayliss, retired county employee Larry Bales and small business owner Katherine Daigle. All candidates except Daigle paid a fee for a 200-word statement to be included in a packet mailed to voters.