Irvine City Council candidate and current Vice Mayor Mike Carroll now has the second-most votes in Irvine’s close City Council race. As of 5:00 p.m. Nov. 9, the Orange County Registrar of Voters estimated there are 27,697 ballots left to count throughout Orange County.

The Registrar also reported that 100 percent of precincts in Orange County are fully reported and Early Voting Ballots are complete.

As of Monday, Nov. 9, Carroll had surpassed both Larry Agran and Lauren Johnson-Norris in votes with 37,607.

Last week, current Irvine Mayor Christina Shea conceded the race for Irvine mayor to her opponent Farrah Khan, after Shea fell behind by a double-digit percentage. There are now three seats available on the council, as Irvine Mayor-Elect Farrah Khan will vacate her seat once she takes office as mayor. 

Currently, Tammy Kim still leads all candidates in votes with 42,896. However, the gap between Carroll, Agran and Johnson-Norris is 377 votes, as of Monday, Nov. 9 at 5 p.m.

On Monday, Kim continued to lead all candidates, but Johnson-Norris is no longer within the top three:

  • Tammy Kim – 42,896 — 14.89%
  • Mike Carroll (I) – 37,607 — 13.05%
  • Larry Agran — 37,444 — 13.00%
  • Lauren Johnson-Norris – 37,230 — 12.92%
  • John Park — 31,631 — 10.98%
  • Carrie O’Malley — 26,759 —  9.29%
  • Mark Newgent  — 15,411 — 5.35%
  • Diana Jiang – 14,404 — 5.00%
  • Laura Bratton — 10,032 —  3.48%
  • Dylan Green – 8,498 — 2.95%
  • Christina Dillard — 8,066  — 2.80%
  • Anshul Garg – 6,172 — 2.14%
  • Abigail Pole –  6,143 — 2.13%
  • Hai Liang – 5,787  — 2.01%

Carroll has expressed optimism about his chances to continue serving on the Irvine City Council and added that he did not foresee a third seat opening up.

“I think it’s gone really well, I’m not here to declare that we won, but I’m optimistic that when the count is finished, that we will come out ahead,” Carroll said on Thursday Nov. 5, during a phone call with Irvine Weekly. “I was really surprised that it looks like we’ll have three seats open. It’s definitely a new fact that we have to take into account, and it provides another opportunity for me to try and continue to serve on the City Council.”

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