Elected Yorba Linda leaders endorse council member Peggy Huang for seat in Congress

Several of Yorba Linda's elected leaders are backing Councilwoman Peggy Huang's bid to run against a Democratic incumbent and win back an Orange County Congressional seat for the GOP next year.

City Council colleagues Tara Campbell, Beth Haney, Gene Hernandez and Carlos Rodriguez – all Republicans – have endorsed Huang's candidacy in the March 2020 primary election.

Also in Huang's corner are Yorba Linda residents Ryan Bent, elected in 2016 to represent most of the city on the North Orange County Community College District board of trustees, and Brett Barbre, elected in 2018 to a sixth term on the county Municipal Water District board.

Bent also is president of the city's Library Commission, and Barbre is president of the Municipal board, an appointed member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California board and assistant general manager of the Yorba Linda Water District.

However, Huang's Yorba Linda supporters won't be able to vote for her, since Yorba Linda is in the 39^th Congressional District, and Huang is running in the 45^th Congressional District. (Members of Congress aren't required to live in the district they represent.)

The 39^th District, represented by Yorba Linda resident Gil Cisneros, a Democrat who defeated Republican Young Kim for the seat vacated by Ed Royce last year, includes Brea, Buena Park, Fullerton, La Habra, Placentia, Yorba Linda and cities in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

The 45^th District is all in Orange County and includes Irvine, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Tustin, Villa Park and parts of Anaheim and Orange.

Other announced GOP candidates in the 45^th District primary are second-term council members Don Sedgwick of Laguna Hills and Greg Raths of Mission Viejo.

Democrat Katie Porter, a UC Irvine law professor, defeated two-term GOP incumbent Mimi Walters for the seat last year, winning 52.1 to 47.9 percent. The district's current registration percentages: 35.7 Republican, 30.7 Democratic and 29.5 no party preference.

The 39^th District registration percentages: 33.8 Democratic, 32.7 Republican and 29.4 no party preference. Cisneros beat Kim 50.7 to 49.3 percent last year, with Kim edging Cisneros in Orange and San Bernardino counties and Cisneros winning Los Angeles County.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the 39^th by 8.6 percent and the 45^th by 5.4 percent. GOP governor candidate John Cox won the 39^th by 0.8 percent and the 45^th by 1.2 percent in 2018.

Huang won a Yorba Linda council seat in 2014 and was re-elected in 2018, placing first each time. Her 2018 vote – 18,764 – is a historic high for the city's council elections.

A state deputy attorney general, Huang was elected to the county Republican Central Committee representing Brea, La Habra, Placentia and Yorba Linda in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. She's first vice chair of the 61-member official party organization.