IRVINE, Calif. — When Democrats swept all the Orange County U.S. congressional district seats in 2018, party dignitaries didn’t see a fluke but a snapshot of the future.
Massive investment has followed in local campaigns, including the race for Assembly District 68.
That race pits two fixtures of Irvine politics against each other: Melissa Fox, a city councilmember, and Steven Choi, the incumbent Republican and a former mayor of Irvine.
Campaigning in 2020 has been defined by unprecedented funding, with many races replete with attack ads.
Fox has aggressively attacked Choi, attempting to tie him to the most extreme elements of the far-right. She has even accused him of aligning with the anti-vaxxer movement, which believes vaccinations in children can cause illnesses, including autism.
Irvine is a master-planned community with a low violence rate, a top university, and an educated voter base.
“Anyone who subscribes to or is associated with anti vaccination or is not science based is going to have a problem with these voters,” said Adam Probolsky of Probolsky Research.
Numerous calls and emails to Choi’s campaign consultant Jim Nygren went unanswered. Once Choi was finally reached by email, he declined an interview.
Irvine is one of Orange County’s largest cities, with a population of about 282,000 people. It also has a long history of progressive politics even when much of the surrounding territory was Republican. Influential progressive leaders like Larry Agran, who is running to get back on the city council, have established the city as an outlier.
Now politics countywide have shifted toward Democrats. Fox has a strong fundraising advantage over Choi and an established record of service in Irvine.
An attorney, Fox has been an Orange County Fire Authority board member and has been chair of the Irvine Community Land Trust.
The district is almost evenly split between registered Democrats and Republicans.
“The whole point of campaigning is understanding and expressing what you will be like in office,” Fox said. “One has their own policies and positions but ultimately you’re representative of the district and you really have to know which way your district is leaning.”
Fox said the undecided voters in her district would swing her way as she informs them of Choi’s record. She has also claimed that Choi is a climate change denier.
“The climate is directly impacting our district with the neverending fires. It threatens lives and property,” she said.
Choi has spent more than two decades working his way up the political ranks. He was on the Irvine Unified School District Board of Education, and he was on the city council before becoming mayor in 2012. A former college professor of library sciences, Choi has voted with his Republican colleagues on crime and taxes.
Fox is with progressives on climate change, urging action, and advocates for higher density housing.
“We have areas where density just makes a lot of sense like by [Irvine Spectrum Center] and over by the train station and other places where it doesn’t,” she said.
The issue is poised to be a major problem in the state, she said, as out of work Californians struggle to make ends meet, and coronavirus relief remains stuck in Washington.
“We’re about to see a tsunami of evictions,” she said.