| Orange County has long been known as a | | | | Republicans have responded to the influx |
| Republican stronghold and has | | | | of ethnic immigrants by making more |
| consistently sent Republican | | | | explicit efforts to court the Hispanic |
| representatives to the state and federal | | | | and Asian vote. In 2004, George W. Bush |
| legislatures. Republican majorities in | | | | captured 60% of the county's vote, up |
| Orange County helped deliver | | | | from 56% in 2000, despite a higher |
| California's electoral votes to | | | | Democratic popular vote compared with |
| Republican presidential candidates | | | | the 2000 election. Although Barbara |
| Richard Nixon (1960, 1968 and 1972), | | | | Boxer won statewide, and fared better in |
| Gerald Ford (1976), Ronald Reagan (1980 | | | | Orange County than she did in 1998, |
| and 1984) and George H. W. Bush (1988). | | | | Republican Bill Jones defeated her in |
| Orange County has not voted for a | | | | the county, 51% to 43%. And while the |
| Democratic presidential candidate since | | | | 39% that John Kerry received is higher |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1936 landslide | | | | than the percentage Bill Clinton won in |
| re-election for a second term. Although | | | | both 1992 and 1996, the percentage of |
| Democrats have made inroads in the | | | | the vote George W. Bush received in 2004 |
| northern end of the county since the | | | | (60% of the vote) is the highest any |
| mid-1980s, Orange County politics are | | | | presidential candidate has received |
| still dominated by Republicans. Five of | | | | since 1988, showing a still-dominant GOP |
| the county's six U.S. Representatives, | | | | presence in the county. Democratic |
| four of its five State Senators and | | | | strength is concentrated in the |
| seven of its nine State Assembly members | | | | communities of Santa Ana, Laguna Beach |
| are Republicans, as are all five members | | | | and Laguna Woods. |
| of the County Board of Supervisors. | | | | The county features prominently in the |
| According to the Orange County Registrar | | | | book Suburban Warriors: The Origins of |
| of Voters, as of December 26, 2006, | | | | the New American Right by Lisa McGirr. |
| Orange County had 1,501,843 registered | | | | She argues that the county's |
| voters. Of these registered voters, | | | | conservative political orientation in |
| 47.78% (717,546) are registered | | | | the 20th century owed much to its |
| Republicans, and 30.08% (451,706) are | | | | settlement by Midwestern transplants, |
| registered Democrats, giving the | | | | who reacted strongly to communist |
| Republicans a registration advantage of | | | | sympathies, the civil rights movement, |
| 17.7% (265840) – or over a quarter of | | | | and the turmoil of the 1960s in nearby |
| a million voters. An additional 18.19% | | | | Los Angeles—across the "Orange |
| (273,215) declined to state a political | | | | Curtain." |
| party, and the remaining 3.95% (59,376) | | | | In the 1970s and 1980s, Orange County |
| are registered with minor political | | | | was one of California's leading |
| parties.[1] | | | | Republican voting blocs and a |
| Orange County has produced such notable | | | | sub-culture of residents to hold "Middle |
| Republicans as President Richard Nixon | | | | American" values that emphasized a |
| (born in Yorba Linda and lived in San | | | | capitalist religious morality in |
| Clemente), U.S. Senator John F. Seymour | | | | contrast to West coast progressive |
| (previously mayor of Anaheim), and U.S. | | | | liberalism that well existed there. |
| Senator Thomas Kuchel (of Anaheim). | | | | Political jokes spoke of Orange County |
| Former Congressman Chris Cox (of Newport | | | | as a "white" racist bastion, where their |
| Beach), a White House counsel for | | | | city councils alleged to have ties to |
| President Ronald Reagan, is currently | | | | the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis, though |
| chairman of the U.S. Securities and | | | | they are mean-spirited rumors meant to |
| Exchange Commission. Orange County was | | | | generate controversy on the county's |
| also home to former Republican | | | | attitudes on the rising percentage of |
| Congressman John G. Schmitz, a | | | | minoritiy groups moving into formerly |
| presidential candidate in 1972 from the | | | | homogeneous suburban communities. |
| ultra-conservative American Independent | | | | Santa Ana has a high portion of |
| Party and the father of Mary Kay | | | | Republican voters from culturally |
| Letourneau. In 1996, Curt Pringle | | | | conservative Asian-American, Middle |
| (currently mayor of Anaheim) became the | | | | Eastern and Latino immigrants, many came |
| first Republican-elected Speaker of the | | | | as refugees from wars and dictatorships, |
| California State Assembly in decades. | | | | are strongly loyal to policies of the |
| While the growth of the county's | | | | Republican party to defeat communism and |
| Hispanic and Asian populations in recent | | | | radical Islamic terrorism. High numbers |
| decades has significantly influenced the | | | | of Vietnamese-Americans in Garden Grove |
| culture of Orange County, its | | | | and Westminster are also Republican |
| conservative reputation has remained | | | | loyalists for the party's anti-communist |
| largely intact. Partisan voter | | | | policies. Vietnamese Americans |
| registration patterns of Hispanics, | | | | registered Republicans outnumber |
| Asians and other ethnic minorities in | | | | Democrats at a rate of 55% to 22%. |
| the county have tended to reflect the | | | | Republican Assemblyman Van Tran was |
| surrounding demographics, with resultant | | | | elected to become the first |
| Republican majorities in all but the | | | | Vietnamese-American to serve in a state |
| central portion of the county. When | | | | legislature and is tied with Texan |
| Democrat Loretta Sanchez defeated | | | | Hubert Vo as the highest-ranking elected |
| veteran Republican Robert K. Dornan in | | | | Vietnamese-American in the United |
| the congressional contest of 1996, she | | | | States. In the 2007 Special Election for |
| was continuing a trend of Democratic | | | | the vacant county supervisor seat |
| representation of that district that had | | | | following Democrat Lou Correa's election |
| been interrupted by Dornan's 1984 upset | | | | to the state senate, two |
| of former Congressman Jerry Patterson. | | | | Vietnamese-American Republican |
| Until 1992, Sanchez herself was a | | | | candidates topped the list of 10 |
| Republican, and she is viewed as having | | | | candidates, separated from each other by |
| moderate or even conservative positions | | | | only 7 votes, making the board of |
| on many issues. | | | | supervisor all-Republican. |