Bao Nguyen up against Lou Correa for for Congress

Martin Wisckol/OC Register

Two Democrats will vie for the congressional seat vacated by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, as the late surge of ballots pushing Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen past Republican Bob Peterson into second place in the June 7 primary has put the race out of reach for Peterson.

Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen clinched enough votes to edge out Bob Peterson to compete for the congressional seat vacated by Rep. Loretta Sanchez in November. (Photo: City of Garden Grove)

With a few hundred ballots remaining to count and Peterson trailing by 1,650 votes, Nguyen on Tuesday swiftly moved into general election mode and launched an attack on veteran politician Lou Correa, who finished first.

Nguyen is a self-proclaimed liberal and supporter of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Correa, a Hillary Clinton supporter, built a reputation as a moderate Democrat during his 14 years in the state Legislature.

As of Tuesday evening, Correa had 43.5 percent of the vote in the eight-person race, Nguyen had 14.6 percent and Peterson had 12.8 percent. In fourth at 12.4 percent was Democratic former state Sen. Joe Dunn, whose $372,000 in campaign funds was more than Nguyen and Peterson combined.

Ballots tallied on Election Day put Peterson in second place, 492 votes ahead of Nguyen. But with the mail, paper and provisional ballots tallied since, Nguyen caught up and then steadily padded his lead.

Peterson, who raised just $26,000, said he’d likely run for elected office again but had no immediate plans.

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