Horvath declares victory in Los Angeles County supervisors race, will head to Washington on Monday
JONATHAN GOLDBERG | Editor
Republican Jon Horn (r), the chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, at a debate with his Democratic challenger, City Councilman Eric Angelides, at the University of California, Irvine, on Sunday. Horn defeated Angelides by a margin of nearly 20 points.
PASADENA – Jon Horn, the Orange County Republican Party chairman and former city councilman, became the winner of one of the most closely watched contests in the nation on Sunday, but not without a rough ride in the final days.
Horn won a competitive special election against Eric Angelides, a Democrat, winning more votes than any other candidate in the runoff, and giving Democrats a shot at unseating GOP supermajority. With less than three weeks until the Nov. 4 general election cycle, the race is the closest California race since the state’s presidential primary of June 3.
Horn, the chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, was born in the state and graduated from the University of California, Irvine. He served 12 years on the council, first in District 1, then District 2, becoming the first Republican on the council in the last four decades.
In the runoff, Horn defeated Angelides by a margin of nearly 20 points, winning nearly 53 percent of the votes in the race to capture the position of chairman.
“I have a lot of confidence in Jon Horn,” said Councilman Mitchell Englander, a Los Angeles Democrat who voted for Angelides. “He served my neighborhood very well, and he brought about a lot of change. I wish him well, and he will make a good, strong voice for Orange County.”
Angelides had a much better showing in the primary, winning a number of smaller Orange County local races.
In one of the closest races of the year, Horn will now head to Washington on Monday, where he will officially become the new chairman of the House GOP Conference. He will hold the position until the November election.
“I was delighted to come
