RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — Rancho Santa Margarita residents will likely see at least one new face on the city council dais in the coming year.
In District 1, Josh Bastian took a strong lead Tuesday night and maintained that lead through Wednesday afternoon, clinching 68.8 percent of the vote.
His opponent, Nicholas Reese, garnered 31.2 percent of the vote.
In District 2, Anne Figueroa claimed 50.3 percent of the vote, while Natalie Guse followed with 38.2 percent of the vote.
Rod Ganjifard trailed with 11.5 percent of the vote.
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.
RELATED:Real-Time Election Results 2026: Congressional District 40
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