{"id":34171,"date":"2026-06-03T18:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/34171\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T18:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:21:07","slug":"2026-election-results-blakespear-seyarto-stickland-valencia-take-leads-in-orange-countys-state-senate-races-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/34171\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Election Results: Blakespear, Seyarto, Stickland, Valencia take leads in Orange County\u2019s state Senate races \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kelly Seyarto, Avelino Valencia<\/a>, Tony Strickland<\/a> and Catherine Blakespear<\/a> took early leads in the primary races for California Senate districts 32, 34, 36 and 38.<\/p>\n

In all four races, just two candidates are contending in the primary, meaning all eight are guaranteed to appear on the General Election ballot in November.<\/p>\n

In District 32, incumbent Seyarto<\/a>, a Republican who has held the seat since 2022, is facing off against author and retired OBGYN physician Tiffanie Tate, a Democrat. Seyarto previously held office in the state Assembly and as a member of the Murrieta City Council. Geographically, District 32 includes Yorba Linda and extends to cover parts of Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Politically, the district leans red, with 40% of voters registered as Republican, 31% as Democrat and 19.5% as no-party preference.<\/p>\n

In District 34, with incumbent Tom Umberg termed out, voters are choosing between Democrat Valencia or Republican Rhonda Shader.<\/p>\n

Both candidates have worked as elected officials in local government; Valencia, as a member of the Anaheim City Council 2020 to 2022 before he was elected to the California State Assembly, and Shader<\/a> as a member of the Placentia City Council. Shader also owns an insurance agency.<\/p>\n

Tuesday night saw Valencia take a steep lead over Shader.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started out pretty low and I\u2019m a little disappointed. But I\u2019m going to November and I\u2019m hoping it turns up by then,\u201d Shader said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t go full-on in the primary so there\u2019s definitely more to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate District 34 includes part of Los Angeles County and several communities in north Orange County, including Anaheim, Buena Park, Fullerton, La Habra, Placentia, Santa Ana and western Orange. Politically, the district leans blue, with 46% of voters registered as Democrat, 24.1% as Republican and 23.7% as no-party preference.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Also see: June 2 Primary Election Results<\/a><\/p>\n

In Senate District 36, incumbent Strickland, a Republican, is contending with Democrat Chris Duncan<\/a>, a member of the San Clemente City Council.<\/p>\n

Geographically, District 36 touches Buena Park, Cypress, Dana Point, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, San Clemente, Seal Beach, Stanton and Westminster and the unincorporated community of Rossmoor. Politically, the district is purple, with 37.1% of voters registered as Republican, 33.4% registered as Democrat and 22.9% as no-party preference.<\/p>\n

In Senate District 38, incumbent Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat, is running against Laura Bassett<\/a>, a Republican.<\/p>\n

Bassett took an early lead Tuesday night, but as more votes were counted, Blakespear moved ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really good about where we are at the first results, because a lot of Democrats voted later,\u201d Blakespear said. \u201cSo we expect my lead to grow over time and that\u2019s a really good beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people are grateful that I\u2019m an effective legislator working on affordability issues,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue doing the work, (November is) five months from now. I\u2019ve been in office for four years and I have a history with the\u00a0 district and continuing to gain the trust of the voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blakespear has held the seat since 2022, and previously held elected office as a member of the Encinitas City Council and as the city\u2019s elected mayor. Bassett owns two businesses in Oceanside and is a member of the San Diego County Civil Service Commission.<\/p>\n

The district includes parts of north San Diego County and touches several Orange County communities, including Dana Point, Ladera Ranch, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Las Flores, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. Politically, the district is purple, with 37.3% of voters registered as Democrat, 31.6% registered as Republican and 23.1% as no-party preference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kelly Seyarto, Avelino Valencia, Tony Strickland and Catherine Blakespear took early leads in the primary races for California…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7695,378,16638,9984,16453,273,4014,16639,24,95],"class_list":["post-34171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-valencia","tag-2026-elections","tag-california","tag-california-legislature-elections","tag-election","tag-election-results","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-elections","tag-politics","tag-valencia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}