Real-Time Results: Mission Viejo Midterm Election 2026

MISSION VIEJO, CA — The polls are closed in Orange County, and voters will soon know who will represent them on the Mission Viejo City Council, if billionaires will get their own California tax, and whether a blue wave will flood Congress, possibly sinking the final two years of President Donald Trump’s lame-duck presidency.

Millions of voters and election officials wait not only for the results but also for the president’s reaction. Trump’s Justice Department spent the final two weeks of the campaign season issuing subpoenas to California election officials and suing to block 20,000 Golden State ballots from being counted amid allegations of illegal voting. The Justice Department issued subpoenas for multiple California election officials to appear in court the day after the election.

Amid that contentious backdrop, Californians cast their ballots for a new governor, widely expected to be Democrat Xavier Becerra, who went into the election with a wide lead in the polls over Republican Steve Hilton.

The outcome of dozens of down-ballot primary races also hangs in the balance in Orange County. Voters are waiting to find out who came out ahead in the county Board of Supervisors and congressional districts.

Scroll down for real-time [PATCH County] election results.

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As of September, the California Secretary of State reported that 23,164,977 Californians were registered to vote, which accounts for more than 85 percent of the state's eligible voting population.

Not surprisingly, there are far more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, with 45 percent for the former and 25 percent for the latter.

In Orange County, the rate of voter registration is high. As of September, 1,905,933 were registered to vote — with 36.46 percent of voters registered as Democrats, 33.59 percent as Republicans.

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Record Turnout

Based on early voting, California is poised to see 60 percent of registered voters head to the polls, a record for a gubernatorial race, Paul Mitchell, of political data analysis firm Political Data told The San Francisco Chronicle.

While the governor’s race was expected to be called early Tuesday, it’s California’s congressional races and ballot measures poised to offer the biggest upsets and surprises. Hanging in the balance is control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mitchell predicted that five key redrawn congressional districts appear poised to deliver Democratic victories driven, in part, by high turnout among Latino voters.

“I think the blue wave is on track,” Mitchell told The Chronicle. “It seems to be on track that we’re going to have a really strong turnout.”

So far, voter turnout has been higher in competitive races such as the Central Valley’s District 22 and the 48th Congressional District in San Diego — two districts Democrats hope to flip after their mid-decade gerrymander.

As of Oct. 29, Democratic voters represented 51 percent of ballots returned statewide compared to just 28 percent among Republican voters, according to the Political Data tracker.

Races to watch in Mission Viejo

Mission Viejo City Council

All five city council seats in Mission Viejo are up for election.

In District 1, incumbent Bob Ruesch is running against writer Kristen Wilcox.

According to Voice of OC, Reusch has raised over $16,000 toward his campaign — including $5,900 from the CA Real Estate PAC.

Wilcox filed a Form 470, meaning she received less than $2,000 in contributions, the outlet reported.

As of 8:50 p.m., Ruesch held a wide lead with 66 percent of votes, while Wilcox trailed with 33 percent of votes.

In District 2, two newcomers went head-to-head.

Saga Conroy, who currently serves on the city's community services commission and works as a community outreach director for Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, will face off against Peter Molinari — a small business owner who serves on the city's planning and transportation commission.

As of 8:50 p.m., Conroy led the race with 53 percent of votes while Molinari followed close behind with 46 percent of votes, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

In District 3, incumbent Cynthia Vasquez is running against Bryan Zahn, a retired senior public services supervisor for the city.

As of 8:50 p.m., Zahn led the race with 52 percent of votes, while Vasquez followed close behind with 47 percent of votes.

In District 4, newcomers Laura Lacko and James Morrison vie for the seat.

Lacko is a community volunteer who raised almost $12,000 for her campaign, Voice of OC reported. Morrison is a human resources professional who raised just over $13,000, the report said.

As of 8:50 p.m., the race was tight, with Lacko garnering 50 percent of votes and Morrison pulling in 49 percent of votes, according to the OC Registrar of Voters.

District 5 only has one candidate running unopposed: Steven Thornton, a defense acquisition contractor who also serves on the Mission Viejo Community Services Commission.

Congressional Districts

In California’s 40th Congressional District, Republican incumbents Ken Calvert and Young Kim are facing off to keep their seats in congress and represent the district.

The seat, which blends portions of Calvert's and Kim's current district, spans from cities in Orange County such as Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita to Menifee and Murrieta in Riverside County.

The district was redrawn under Proposition 50, the ballot measure that passed in 2025 to reconfigure the boundaries of the state's congressional district, resulting in a race that features two Republican candidates pitted against one another.

Calvert is a Corona native who was originally elected to Congress in 1992. He serves as a senior member of the House Committee on Appropriations and is a Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Kim is one of three Korean American women who were the first to be elected to Congress in 2020. She currently serves on the House Foreign Affairs and the House Financial Services committees and the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

Gubernatorial Race

California voters headed to the polls Tuesday, facing high gas and grocery prices, the effects of climate change on wildfires and rising seas amid a shortage in insurance coverage and the ever-present housing affordability crisis.

The governor’s race was somewhat anticlimactic following a chaotic primary with a crowded field of candidates roiled when the frontrunner was forced to step down amid sexual assault allegations. Since then, Becerra maintained a steady lead over Hilton in the polls.

In the final days of the election, a new SurveyUSA poll showed Becerra with a 22-point lead.

Click here for real-time results in the California Governor’s races.

Congressional Races

All 52 of California’s Congressional seats were on the ballot.

Congressional races across California were under intense scrutiny following voter approval of Proposition 50, a partisan redistricting measure expected to reshape the state’s political map. Thanks to the redistricting, only a handful of districts were truly competitive. Democrats hoped to flip as many as five Republican House seats in a bid to overturn the GOP’s slim House majority.

Democrats think they can flip as many as five seats, with four seeming very much in reach, according to the polls. Both parties are spending like control of the House is on the line.

Click here for real-time results in California’s Congressional races.

Propositions

There were 14 statewide propositions on the ballot this week. Arguably, the most hot-button ballot initiatives involve taxation. Proposition 40 is the highly discussed billionaire tax, while Propositions 41 and 42 aim to counter the measure. Proposition 3 also addresses taxes on the state's highest earners.

Click here for real-time results for all of California’s ballot measures.