Editing Lake Forest, California (section)

===State and federal representation===
{| class="wikitable"  style="float:right; margin:1em; font-size:95%;"
|+ Lake Forest city vote<br/> by party in presidential elections
|- style="background:lightgrey;"
! Year
! [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
! [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
! [[Third party (United States)|Third Parties]]
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|[[2020 United States presidential election|2020]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.livevoterturnout.com/Orange/LiveResults/precincts_6.pdf|title=Precinct results |date=2020 |website=www.ocvote.com |access-date=November 27, 2020}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|'''52.38%''' ''23,810''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|45.40% ''20,638''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|2.21% ''1,006''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[2016 United States presidential election|2016]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/gen2016/sov.pdf |title=SOV.xls |publisher=www.ocvote.com |date=2016 |access-date=May 31, 2020}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|46.00% ''16,221''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''46.76%''' ''16,488''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|7.24% ''2,553''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[2012 United States presidential election|2012]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/gen2012/sov-for-web.pdf |title=SOV.xls |publisher=www.ocvote.com |date=2012 |access-date=May 31, 2020}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|40.72% ''13,307''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''56.57%''' ''18,484''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|2.71% ''885''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[2008 United States presidential election|2008]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/user_upload/sov/gen2008/sov.pdf |title=SOV.xls |publisher=www.ocvote.com |date=2008 |access-date=May 31, 2020}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|44.23% ''14,937''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''53.40%''' ''18,034''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|2.37% ''802''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[2004 United States presidential election|2004]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/user_upload/sov/e13/sov1.pdf |title=SOV.xls |publisher=www.ocvote.com |date=2013 |access-date=May 31, 2020}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|34.71% ''11,200''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''64.11%''' ''20,691''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|1.18% ''381''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[2000 United States presidential election|2000]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/user_upload/sov/gen2000/gen2000-SOV.pdf |title=SOV.xls |publisher=www.ocvote.com |date=2000 |access-date=May 31, 2020}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|36.13% ''10,968''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''60.56%''' ''18,386''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|3.31% ''1,005''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[1996 United States presidential election|1996]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/statementofvote51996cali|title=Statement of vote|last=California. Secretary of State|date=March 30, 1968|publisher=Sacramento, Calif. : The Secretary|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|34.19% ''7,511''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''54.94%''' ''12,069''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|10.87% ''2,389''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[1992 United States presidential election|1992]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/statementofvote31992cali|title=Statement of vote|last=California. Secretary of State|date=March 30, 1968|publisher=Sacramento, Calif. : The Secretary|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|27.58% ''6,908''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''45.76%''' ''11,464''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|26.66% ''6,680''
|}
In the [[California State Legislature]], Lake Forest is in {{Representative|casd|37|fmt=sdistrict}}, and in {{Representative|caad|72|fmt=adistrict}}.<ref>{{Cite web
 | url = https://statewidedatabase.org/gis/districtscomp.html
 | title = California Districts
 | publisher = UC Regents
 | access-date = January 5, 2023
}}</ref>

In the [[United States House of Representatives]], Lake Forest is in {{Representative|cacd|40|fmt=district}}.<ref>{{Cite GovTrack|CA|40}}</ref>

According to the [[Secretary of State of California]], as of February 10, 2019, Lake Forest has 46,014 registered voters. Of those, 17,329 (37.66%) are registered Republicans, 13,402 (29.13%) are registered Democrats, and 13,080 (28.43%) have no political party preference/are independents.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ror/ror-odd-year-2019/politicalsub.pdf|title=CA Secretary of State – Report of Registration – February 10, 2019|website=ca.gov|access-date=June 26, 2019}}</ref>

Historically, Lake Forest has, like most of southern Orange County, been a Republican fortress in presidential elections. Changing demographics and the intensely polarizing urban/rural divide, however, has made Lake Forest more fertile footing for Democrats, who in recent elections have been trimming the GOP margins in the city. In 2020, [[Joe Biden]] became the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Lake Forest since its incorporation.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}