Candidates backed by current Newport Beach council members win big at the polls
The bar at Muldoon’s Irish Pub in Newport Beach was packed with patrons Tuesday night — including many wearing red hats or stickers proclaiming “I voted” and one woman in a blue dress with a collage of Trump/Vance bumper stickers printed on it — well over an hour ahead of the Orange County GOP’s watch party scheduled that evening. Campaign volunteers handed out miniature American flags that were hoisted into the air alongside cheers as the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump surpassed 200 electoral votes and other milestones in the race.
Scott Baugh, the Republican competing against Dave Min to represent California’s 47th congressional district, mingled in the crowd with supporters and journalists. He encouraged them to be patient and maintain optimism as his Democratic opponent enjoyed a lead in the first rounds of preliminary results. He managed to pull ahead overnight, but just barely in a race that remained too close to call as of Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile at the local level, an incumbent and two candidates endorsed by sitting members of the Newport Beach City Council won by wide margins on Tuesday, likely preserving an atmosphere of unity and a shared vision for the city’s future among the conservative-led body.
Current Newport-Mesa Unified School District Trustee Michelle Barto, defending councilman Noah Blom as well as businesswoman and certified public accountant Sara Weber, all held double-digit percentage-point leads over their competition in districts 2, 5 and 7, respectively, as of Wednesday morning. They prevailed over former Finance Committee member Nancy Scarbrough, former Councilman Jeff Herdman and community organizer Miles Patricola.
“At the end of the day I respect every candidate who puts themselves in the arena for running for public office, because it’s a lot,” Weber told the Daily Pilot over the phone Wednesday.
“Last night was a culmination of hard work by my family, all the volunteers on my team, and the foundation laid by elected officials who endorsed me throughout the year,” she added. “I really just want to thank everyone who voted for me and I’m really looking forward to earning the respect and support of those who maybe didn’t.”
The incoming City Council, like the current one, will consist of seven conservative-leaning members. It will include four women and three men, giving the body its first female majority in Newport Beach’s history. And all but one of its members will be under the age of 50.
“It’s a young council, but it’s also a very well informed and community-focused council,” Mayor Pro Tem Joe Stapleton told the Daily Pilot in a phone interview Wednesday. “Nobody on council is a stranger to community service in Newport Beach. What I do love is that those who are making decisions are going to see the results of that for a very long time.”
All of the candidates were longtime Newport Beach residents. Many of them shared some common ground on issues related to housing, public safety and more, even if their views on how to act on those matters might differ. Only one, Patricola, was endorsed by the Democratic Party of Orange County.
During the course of the campaign, most candidates expressed frustration at a state mandate to zone for an additional 4,845 units of housing in Newport Beach by 2029. Scarbrough has called for a reexamination of the housing element drafted to meet that requirement; Herdman has gone as far as to suggest scrapping the document and starting over. Both had taken issue with the fact that the housing plan being implemented by the city calls for the addition of 8,174 housing units, about 68% more than what the California’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment requires.
Blom and Barto also said they were unhappy about the housing requirement put forth by lawmakers in Sacramento. However, they as well as members of the current City Council have argued that ignoring it, and failing to comply with California law as a result, would potentially invite state officials to step in and assert even greater control over local zoning. They characterized the city’s housing element as a necessary compromise to prevent that scenario.
“When you look at it, the voters came out strong in support of what I’ve always preached, which is keeping Newport Newport, and really a strong showing in public safety, maintaining our quality of life and this utopia we call Newport Beach,” Stapleton said Wednesday. “So, rejecting some of the policies from Sacramento, continuing to fight for quality of life.”
Weber described supporting firefighters and police as the core of her platform. Public safety is a topic she and the rest of the incoming council will undoubtedly tackle in the near future as Newport Beach moves forward with the installation of an automated surveillance system and looks for ways to integrate technology with law enforcement and other public services.
Newly elected members have also expressed support for enforcement of a recently implemented ordinance banning camping in public places. They view the new law in conjunction with support services, shelter and support housing as an equation to address homelessness within the city’s borders.
In August, the City Council voted to assign more police officers to handle calls involving homeless people and declined to extend its contract with Be Well, the nonprofit that has been operating a mobile mental health response team in Newport Beach since 2021.
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