Zahn, Conroy & Ruesch Get Ahead In Mission Viejo City Council Race: Election Results

MISSION VIEJO, CA — All five city council seats in Mission Viejo are up for election, and residents are guaranteed to get at least three new council members, as two incumbents are termed out.

In District 1, incumbent Bob Ruesch was taking a wide lead over 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.

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.

By Tuesday night, Conroy was leading with 54.9 percent of the vote, while Peter Molinari was trailing with 45.1 percent of the vote.

In District 3, Bryan Zahn was leading with 56 percent of the vote, while incumbent Cynthia Vasquez was trailing with 44 percent of the vote.

In District 4, newcomers Laura Lacko and James Morrison vie for the seat. As of Wednesday, Morrison was leading with 51.9 percent of the vote, while Lacko trailed with 48.1 percent of the vote.

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.

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

Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, maintained his lead Wednesday over Rep. Young Kim, R-Anaheim, in their heated contest for the reshaped 40th congressional 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.

With all precincts from Riverside and Orange counties partially reporting, Calvert had 54% of the vote, compared to Kim's 46%, according to the California Secretary of State's Office.

The two Republicans survived an eight-candidate field in the June primary, with Calvert well out front. Since then, they've been locked in a bitter war of words, accusations and counter-attacks.

The most recent example was Calvert's television advertisement lambasting Kim for taking campaign donations from an individual later identified by the FBI as a Chinese foreign agent. The commercial says Kim "fell into Beijing's trap" by associating with the man.

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