ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — Political outsider Janet Rappaport is a registered Democrat, and although she's not that party's chosen candidate, she insists she won't fracture the vote.

She's part of a crowded field of candidates seeking the vacated 2nd District seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors. The seat was left empty after Michelle Steel was elected to Congress.

While she's been considering a run for a year, her campaign is just getting started. Her fundraising efforts began under a month ago, and she's still sorting out how the mechanisms of a campaign work. 

She's done it without party support, without a relationship with donors, and, so far, without a website. A corporate tax attorney who most recently worked for Herbalife Nutrition, Rappaport does not come with a background of advising or volunteering for campaigns. She's figuring it out as she goes along, and she's doing it without a party.

"My perspective on all this is that this is a nonpartisan seat. That seems to be lost on everyone who's a candidate," she said. "I don't think these debates about affiliation, especially at the local level, are helpful to the citizens. Period."

Still, Democrats followed the political playbook and tried to talk her out of the race to avoid splitting the vote.

"There were attempts to speak with her, and we were never able to connect with her," said Ada Briceño, chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County. "She never returned our phone calls."

Democrats have placed their hopes in Katrina Foley, a Costa Mesa lawyer and the city's current mayor. With two decades of connections and experience in politics and public administration, Foley quickly received the party's nomination last year. She has surged forward on a rising tide of fundraising and volunteer support. Foley said her campaign bank account had topped $300,000, and her grassroots organizing has drawn about 500 volunteers.

She'll also have to contend with three Republicans, despite GOP chair Fred Whitaker's concerted efforts to strip the field of rivals. While John Moorlach is the GOP's chosen candidate — the one they say the polling data favors — two other local mainstays of city government are running. They have money, endorsements, and ready made voting bases. Kevin Muldoon, a Newport Beach city councilmember, and Michael Vo, mayor of Fountain valley, have name recognition in their respective cities. Republican leadership couldn't nudge them out of the race either, leaving room for the much-feared voting split.

Rappaport has no established base or phone list of deep-pocketed donors who want to buy her expensive TV ads or a high-priced campaign strategist.

In a coastal district with a history of voting Republican, Foley has the money and organizing power to compete. Whether Republicans weaken each other may factor into Foley's chances of getting the job. Whether Rappaport will weaken her is another question.

"I don't know her. I don't know anything about her," Foley said. "I'm not worried about her pulling votes from me. That's a nonissue for me."

Foley has issued mailers, conducted virtual events, and consistently hit home the message that her campaign is about COVID-19 recovery. While others share her COVID-19 messaging, Foley has been at the front of some big protocol adjustments in Costa Mesa. During her occupation of the mayor's seat, the city passed one of California's first mask mandates for pedestrians.

Foley said a primary concern of hers during the special election bid is misinformation, singling out Vo, who she said has fashioned himself as a Democrat.

"The only one I see who's organized is Michael Vo, because he's the only one campaigning," Foley said. "Nobody else is running a campaign. They're just talking about each other."

Rappaport is avoiding labels but calls herself a fiscal conservative.

Her platform echoes that of Foley: she saw an opportunity to use her skills to help Orange County out of a pandemic-induced financial slump. But it's her experience negotiating with foreign countries and coaching companies through SEC filings that will enable her to break down a complex county budget, she said.

Rappaport said most of the voters her campaign has reached don't even know there's a special election on March 9.

"We are reliant on the supervisors to take care of this county, and they're not doing it," she said. "I think I can bring some solutions."