Members of the county's Democratic and Republican central committees to be elected in the upcoming March 5 primary play a significant role in who will win the non-partisan city council, school trustee and water director positions in the Nov. 5 general election.
That's because the two central committees have a procedure to endorse contenders for non-partisan offices, and candidates who earn endorsements have an advantage over opponents, since they campaign with support from the official Democratic or Republican parties.
Countywide this year, 68 candidates are seeking the 42 elected positions on the Democratic Central Committee, and 93 candidates are seeking the same number of elected positions on the Republican Central Committee.
Six members are selected for the two panels from each of the seven state Assembly districts that include all or parts of Orange County. The bodies also include ex-officio members, usually current or past partisan office-holders.
Yorba Linda is in the 59th Assembly District that also includes all or portions of Anaheim Hills, Brea, Fullerton, North Tustin, Orange, Placentia and Villa Park. In 2020, Yorba Linda was in the 55th district with Brea, La Habra and Placentia.
This year, the 59th district has the largest number of candidates running for the six positions – 23, with the other six districts having a range of seven through 18 candidates. The 23 include six candidates who represent Yorba Linda in other elective offices.
They include council members Beth Haney and Janice Lim, water district director Gene Hernandez, Placentia-Yorba Linda school trustee Leandra Blades, North Orange County Community College trustee Ryan Bent and county Supervisor Don Wagner.
(Hernandez is identified on the ballot as mayor, the office he held at the filing deadline.)
Yorba Linda is an example of the power of endorsements from the Republican committee. In the past two election cycles, all but one of the winning candidates were endosed by the GOP party organization in contests involving the council, school district and water board.
In 2022, council candidates Carlos Rodriguez and Janice Lim; water director candidates Phil Hawkins, Tom Lindsey and Brett Barbre; and school trustee candidate Todd Frazier won their contests, with each touting endorsements they received from the county Republican Party.
Area 5 school trustee candidate Carrie Buck won without the GOP endorsement, but she lost the Yorba Linda vote to GOP-endorsed Richard Ingle. Her win was due to the Placentia vote.
In 2020, nobody ran against the three Republican council incumbents (Tara Campbell, Beth Haney and Gene Hernandez) and the two water board candidates (Trudi DesRoches and J. Wayne Miller), partly because all five were expected to earn the Republican endorsements.
And three new GOP-endorsed school trustees (Marilyn Anderson, Leandra Blades and Shawn Youngblood) won from a field of 10 candidates.