The Democrat minority bloc on the Huntington Beach City Council has been wiped out, according to election returns so far.
The conservative Republican slate of Chad Williams, Butch Twinging and Don Kennedy has ejected three incumbent Democrats: Dan Kalmick, Natalie Moser and Rhonda Bolton.
Williams, Twining and Kennedy were backed by the current conservative council majority of Tony Strickland, Gracey Van Der Mark, Pat Burns and Casey McKeon. The elections results mean all seven members will be solid, conservative bloc.
This outcome might be surprising to some observers given the generally negative coverage of the council majority in the press and on social media. Kalmick and his allies were adept to ginning up controversy, whether falsely claiming the council majority wanted to “privatize” the city’s library or waging war on the popular Pacific Airshow because its own was a supporter of the council majority.
And earlier indicator that such efforts would fall short came during the March primary, when ballot measures backed by the council majority and attacked by the Kalmick bloc and in the media – such as restricting flags flown at city facilities to the official flags – were approved by the voters.
Councilman Tony Strickland is planning to run for the state Senate seat that will become vacant when the incumbent, Janet Nguyen, is sworn in as member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from the 2nd District. While supervisors are typically sworn in the January following the general election, Nguyen could be sworn in as soon as the election is certified on December 3, since the 2nd District seat is vacant.
If Strickland wins the subsequent state Senate special election, the Huntington Beach City Council would almost certainly choose to fill the resulting council vacancy by appointment, presumably with a political ally.
