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.

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.

“The era of big money, special interests and corporate lobbyists running Washington is over,” Nguyen wrote in an emailed statement. “I’m here to fight to the finish.”

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.

“I have endorsements from Republicans and Democrats, labor unions and business groups, friends and neighbors,” Correa said Tuesday. “I have the endorsements because I’m part of the community. This job isn’t about ideology – it’s about getting the job done.”

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.

“I’m not disappointed,” said Peterson, a sheriff’s commander, of his maiden campaign. “I will sleep easy knowing I gave it my best shot.”

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

As of Tuesday evening, there were 11,520 votes left to tally countywide. Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said he expected to finish the counting and certify the election by the weekend. Several races remain close:

• In the 68th Assembly District contest to replace termed-out Don Wagner, R-Irvine, Irvine Mayor Steven Choi had a 151-vote lead over former Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu for second place. The winner among the two Republicans will face Democrat Sean Jay Panahi in November and will be favored to win thanks to the GOP’s 12 percentage point advantage in voter registration.

• In the tri-county 55th Assembly District contest to replace outgoing incumbent Ling Ling Chang, R-Diamond Bar, Walnut Valley Unified School District board member Phillip Chen had a 1,024-vote lead over West Covina Councilman Mike Spence. The winner among the two Republicans will face Democrat Gregg Fritchle in November and will be favored to win thanks to the GOP’s 8-point voter registration edge.

• In the race for the Area 1 seat on the county Board of Education, Democratic Tustin Councilwoman Rebecca “Beckie” Gomez has overtaken GOP incumbent Robert Hammond and leads by 1,582 votes. Hammond has spawned controversy for referring to gays as “sodomites” in an email. The top vote-getter in June 7 balloting will win the seat.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com