Tony Strickland claims victory in state Senate race, will resign from Huntington Beach City Council

Tony Strickland quoted the late baseball legend Lou Gehrig during a speech at Huntington Beach City Hall on Monday.

Gehrig said during his 1939 farewell speech at Yankee Stadium that today, he considered himself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.

“Well, today I feel like I’m that person,” Strickland said Monday.

The Huntington Beach City Council member is apparently headed back to Sacramento. He has claimed victory in the state Senate District 36 special election, though county elections officials aren’t due to report final numbers to the Secretary of State until Thursday. The Secretary of State will certify the results shortly thereafter.

Strickland, a Republican, had 80,946 votes as of the most recent update processed Monday — 51.3% of the vote. He was followed by Democrats Jimmy Pham (43,683 votes, 27.7%) and Julie Diep (22,614 votes, 14.3%). John Briscoe, a Republican, had 10,554 votes, or 6.7% of the total counted to date.

Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns addresses the crowd during Monday’s press conference at City Hall.

(Matt Szabo)

Strickland needs to surpass 50% of the final vote to win the special election and avoid a runoff election.

District 36 is home to nearly one million residents. It includes most of coastal Orange County — including Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach — and also the Los Angeles County cities of Artesia, Cerritos and Hawaiian Gardens.

Strickland said he would resign from the City Council, effective March 10. Huntington Beach Deputy City Manager Jennifer Carey said discussion about a replacement would likely be on the agenda for the March 18 City Council meeting.

Many of his supporters in the crowd Monday wore “Make California Golden Again” T-shirts, including Strickland’s wife, Carla.

Strickland, who previously served in the state Assembly from 1998 to 2004 and the state Senate from 2008 to 2012, said he plans to do whatever he can to “DOGE California,” making a reference to the controversial Department of Government Efficiency run by Elon Musk.

He added that California doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.

“The people in this district have put a line in the sand and said, ‘We’re going to take our beautiful state back,’” Strickland said. “This is your victory. This is the first time since the Gold Rush that more people are leaving the state than coming in, in California … We have become an economic development agency for states like Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Florida and Tennessee. Today is the day we take our state back, and today is the first step in making California golden again.”

Huntington Beach City Council Member Tony Strickland, flanked by other conservative county leaders, makes a point Monday.

(Matt Szabo)

Pham, an immigration attorney who was Strickland’s top challenger in District 36, said in an interview Monday that he was conceding the race as there didn’t appear to be a path toward a runoff election.

“I’m the type of person who’s going to look forward,” Pham said. “I’d like to see what Strickland does up there, other than being an attack dog and coming after the governor. I’d like to see if he’s serious about his policies, other than attacking the Democratic Party and what we’re doing in California. I don’t believe that he’s going to achieve much up there, anyway, because there’s a supermajority of Democrats, but ultimately it’s about the residents. What is he going to do for working families?”

Strickland would be the 10th Republican state Senator, while there are 30 Democrats.

Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns thanked Strickland for his service to Surf City.

“We’re going to put together a plan on filling the seat that Tony has left vacant,” Burns told the crowd. “We can’t replace Tony; he’s one in a million and taught us all so much. I knew nothing about politics before I got into this. Now, I know very little, but I know a lot more than I did when I got into it because of Tony.”