Anaheim Mayoral Election 2026: Early Results and Political Dynamics
Initial results from the Anaheim Mayoral race show Ashleigh Aitken leading with over 57% of the vote, while opposition groups and political entities have been actively involved in the campaign.
Initial election night results for the Anaheim Mayoral race showed Ashleigh Aitken was in the lead with 57% of the vote ahead of Alfredo Rodriguez at about 32% of the vote, as of 1:36 a.m. Wednesday morning. Imran Sharief trailed behind in third with 11% of the vote. There were over 57,600 votes counted so far in the race (source ID 1). [1]
The election comes in the wake of Aitken admitting to struggling with alcoholism following a bombshell claim filed against the city by her Chief of Staff Berenice Ballinas alleging the Mayor called her a “dirty Mexican,” constantly questioned her sexuality and drank heavily at government functions. Aitken has denied allegations of being homophobic and hurling racist slurs at Ballinas and city officials have hired outside investigators to launch a probe into the accusations (source ID 1). [1]
The Anaheim Police Association’s PAC decided to suspend their backing of Aitken at the end of September in light of the allegations and last month began spending heavily against Aitken’s reelection campaign. The police union’s committee spent over $93,000 on polling and mailers against Aitken as of Oct. 23 (source ID 1). [1]
Meanwhile, Disney and the hotelier-funded committees rolled over left over money from the 2024 election into a committee backing Aitken called “Neighbors for a Strong Anaheim supporting Aitken for Mayor 2026.” That group spent over $60,000 on mailers backing Aitken as of Oct. 2 (source ID 1). [1]
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Initial election night results for the Anaheim Mayoral race showed Ashleigh Aitken was in the lead with 57% of the vote ahead of Alfredo Rodriguez at about 32% of the vote, as of 1:36 a.m. Wednesday morning Imran Sharief trailed behind in third with 11% of the vote. There were over 57,600 votes counted so far in the race. There were still over 246,500 ballots to process throughout OC Wednesday morning (Source ID: 1). [1]
The election comes in the wake of Aitken admitting to struggling with alcoholism following a bombshell claim filed against the city by her Chief of Staff Berenice Ballinas alleging the Mayor called her a “dirty Mexican,” constantly questioned her sexuality and drank heavily at government functions. Aitken has denied allegations of being homophobic and hurling racist slurs at Ballinas and city officials have hired outside investigators to launch a probe into the accusations (Source ID: 1). [1]
The Anaheim Police Association’s PAC decided to suspend their backing of Aitken at the end of September in light of the allegations and last month began spending heavily against Aitken’s reelection campaign. The police union’s committee spent over $93,000 on polling and mailers against Aitken as of Oct. 23 (Source ID: 1). [1]
Initial election night results for the Anaheim Mayoral race showed Ashleigh Aitken was in the lead with 57% of the vote ahead of Alfredo Rodriguez at about 32% of the vote, as of 1:36 a.m. Wednesday morning. Imran Sharief, the incumbent mayor, trailed behind in third with 11% of the vote. There were over 57,600 votes counted so far in the race, with over 246,500 ballots still to be processed throughout Orange County (Source ID: 1). [1]
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The election comes in the wake of Aitken admitting to struggling with alcoholism following a bombshell claim filed against the city by her Chief of Staff Berenice Ballinas. Ballinas alleged that the Mayor called her a “dirty Mexican,” constantly questioned her sexuality, and drank heavily at government functions (Source ID: 1). [1]
Aitken has denied allegations of being homophobic and hurling racist slurs at Ballinas. City officials have hired outside investigators to launch a probe into the accusations. The Anaheim Police Association’s PAC decided to suspend their backing of Aitken at the end of September in light of the allegations and last month began spending heavily against Aitken’s reelection campaign (Source ID: 1). [1]
Sources
Anaheim News: City Council, the Resort District and Police
Prepared with AI assistance from the cited sources.
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