ElectioNite 2026: Where the races stand as of Friday, Nov. 6

Three days after Election Day, several races affecting Santa Ana remain undecided, including the closely contested mayoral election and California's 68th Assembly District, where candidates are separated by fewer than 1,000 votes.

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Other contests have already been projected by The Santanero or called by the Associated Press, although election officials continue counting ballots across Orange County.

As of Friday, Nov. 6, approximately 220,900 ballots remained to be processed countywide. The Orange County Registrar of Voters does not provide estimates of how many outstanding ballots belong to individual races.

Mayoral race

Mayor Valerie Amezcua's lead over challenger Dan Shimell has narrowed dramatically as additional ballots are counted.

Amezcua leads with 22,102 votes (43.4%), compared with Shimell's 21,962 votes (43.1%), a difference of just 140 votes. Dwayne Shipp, who has conceded, trails with 6,835 votes (13.4%).

Shimell gained 770 votes on Amezcua in Friday's reporting update, reducing a lead that stood at 910 votes Thursday.

The Santanero has not projected a winner in the mayoral race.

Ward 4 projection

The Santanero has projected immigrant rights director Sandra De Anda as the winner of Santa Ana's Ward 4 City Council race, where she leads incumbent Phil Bacerra by 1,025 votes.

De Anda has expanded her lead in every daily reporting period tracked since Election Day, consistently receiving more newly counted votes than Bacerra.

The number of additional votes reported in Ward 4 has also declined with each daily update. Those trends informed The Santanero's projection, although the results remain unofficial.

The Santanero reached out to the Bacerra campaign and did not hear back.

Ramos makes gains

Isuri Ramos continues to widen her lead over Giovanni Chavez in Santa Ana's Ward 6 City Council race.

Ramos leads with 4,028 votes (56.7%), compared with Chavez's 3,082 votes (43.3%), a difference of 946 votes.

Unlike Ward 4, the number of newly reported votes in Ward 6 has remained relatively steady since Wednesday rather than consistently declining.

The Santanero has not yet projected a winner in Ward 6.

Aceves leads, Bustos projected

In the Santa Ana Unified School District's Trustee Area 4 race, Katelyn Brazer Aceves leads Sylvia Iglesias by 926 votes.

Brazer Aceves has expanded her advantage in successive daily updates, although the volume of newly reported votes has fluctuated. The Santanero has not projected a winner.

In Trustee Area 5, The Santanero has projected Hector Bustos as the winner over Alejandra Rodriguez. Bustos leads with 68.9% of the vote.

Ward 2 and Measure N

The Santanero has also projected incumbent Benjamin Vazquez as the winner of Santa Ana's Ward 2 City Council race. Vazquez leads Selica Diaz with 73% of the vote.

Meanwhile, Santa Ana's Measure N has received a projection of passage from The Santanero, with 67.1% voting Yes.

Lopez narrows Penaloza's lead

One of the closest state legislative contests affecting Santa Ana remains California's 68th Assembly District.

David Penaloza leads Jessie Lopez by just 717 votes, with 41,785 votes (50.4%) to Lopez's 41,068 (49.6%).

Lopez has gained ground in successive updates, narrowing Penaloza's lead by 748 votes since Thursday.

The Santanero has not projected a winner as ballot counting continues.

State Senate District 34 race

The Santanero has projected Avelino Valencia as the winner of California's 34th Senate District race.

Valencia leads Rhonda Shader with 126,628 votes (68.6%) to Shader's 57,909 (31.4%), an advantage of more than 68,000 votes.

Board of Equalization District 4

Tom Umberg leads Denis Bilodeau in the Fourth District Board of Equalization race.

Umberg has received 1,301,933 votes (56.9%), compared with Bilodeau's 987,783 (43.1%).

Despite Umberg's substantial lead, The Santanero has not issued a projection in this contest.

AP calls Governor's race for Becerra

The Associated Press has called California's gubernatorial race for Xavier Becerra.

Becerra leads Steve Hilton with 6,307,920 votes (65.2%) to Hilton's 3,363,719 (34.8%).

Congressional races

The Associated Press has called all four congressional contests covering portions of Santa Ana.

In District 42, covering South Santa Ana, Robert Garcia leads Brian Burley with 60.7% of the vote.

In District 45, covering West Santa Ana, Derek Tran leads Chuong V. Vo with 59.9%.

In District 46, Lou Correa leads David Pan with 69.6%.

In District 47, which includes Santa Ana's Deodar Block, Dave Min leads Jenny Rae Le Roux with 57.5%.

What happens next?

Ballot counting will continue as election officials process 220,900 outstanding countywide ballots and update unofficial results.

Updated returns will be posted at 5:00 PM Saturday.

While several races have been projected, the mayoral contest, Assembly District 68, Ward 6 and SAUSD Trustee Area 4 remain uncalled by The Santanero.

All results remain unofficial until certification. Local race totals reflect Orange County Registrar of Voters updates through Nov. 6, while state and congressional figures reflect California Secretary of State data last updated at 5:37 p.m. PT. Race calls are attributed to The Santanero or the Associated Press as indicated.