A special election Tuesday, March 9, is almost guaranteed to change the dynamics on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, and it could entrench Republican power on the dais or open the door for Democrats – but for most residents, that’s not why it’s important.
The board manages a budget of more than $7 billion, oversees the public health department that’s leading local pandemic response and has stewardship of 60,000 acres of public parks, beaches and open space – and its members are in a position to influence state policy and federal funding to the county’s benefit.
Five candidates hope to take the seat representing largely coastal District 2, which includes Costa Mesa, Cypress, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Stanton, the unincorporated area of Rossmoor, and portions of Buena Park and Fountain Valley. The winner will complete the unexpired term of Michelle Steel (now a congresswoman) and will be up for reelection again next year.
On the ballot are Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley, former supervisor and state senator John Moorlach, Newport Beach Councilman Kevin Muldoon, Corona del Mar attorney Janet Rappaport and Fountain Valley Mayor Michael Vo.
What supervisors do
Some residents may not have had a reason to connect with the county or didn’t realize it when they did, but Orange County delivers an array of services that people often just assume will be there if needed.
The county employs public health nurses, social workers, housing administrators, people in the District Attorney’s and public defender’s offices and other frontline workers who have continued to do their jobs throughout the coronavirus pandemic, said Orange County Employees Association General Manager Charles Barfield.
“The Board of Supervisors has a tremendous impact on the services that are provided and prioritizing and resourcing those services for all the residents of Orange County,” he said.
And while it contains 34 cities, Orange County – unlike Los Angeles – “is a unique county without a ‘downtown’ or a capital per se,” Orange County Business Council CEO Lucy Dunn said – so the supervisors often represent and speak for residents on the broader stage.
Most mayoral and city council positions in Orange County are part-time, but board seats are full-time jobs that come with greater autonomy and a staff of several people, said Supervisor Don Wagner, who was mayor of Irvine before winning the District 3 seat in 2019.
“You’re kind of at the intersection between the state and cities,” he said. “You’ve got carrots, you’ve got sticks – you can use them to get stuff done.”
Supervisors also serve on regional agencies that set policy for transportation (all five are on the Orange County Transportation Authority Board), wastewater, air quality and public safety, and they advocate for OC’s share of state and federal tax dollars.
The county’s public health policies over the past year are a recent example of significant board decisions, but supervisors past have navigated fallout from a 1994 bankruptcy (the largest municipal bankruptcy in history at the time) and the closure and reuse of the El Toro Marine air base.
Who’s running?
The candidates for the District 2 supervisor seat bring a mix of business and elected experience and a variety of viewpoints and politics.
Vo, a Republican and business owner, is one of three who’s held a City Council seat. Born in Vietnam, he has described his story as one of “a refugee to a public servant.” Some of his ventures have aimed to help people with similar backgrounds – the traffic school he started in 1989 was designed for Vietnamese-Americans with limited English skills – and he’s also worked in the financial planning and insurance industries.
Rappaport, a Corona del Mar resident, is an international business attorney, a Democrat and a first-time political candidate. She has said the county’s handling of the pandemic – in her opinion, inadequate – spurred her to enter the race, and she believes her experience at solving problems and managing logistics would serve her well on the board.
Muldoon is a city councilman, a Republican and an attorney who does consulting for tech companies. He has opposed what he sees as heavy-handed business shutdowns and government mask mandates (he filed a lawsuit to overturn Gov. Gavin Newsom’s closure of OC’s beaches earlier in the pandemic), and he believes local government is one of the best ways to serve residents.
Moorlach is a Republican and long-serving elected official seen by some political observers as the candidate to beat: he’s been on the board before (2006-15), he was most recently a state senator, and he’s an accountant with a reputation as a fiscally conservative policy wonk. Moorlach has touted his work to bring OC state funding for mental health services and to create a trust fund to finance affordable housing, but unions representing deputy sheriffs and most other county employees oppose him as a potential threat to pensions and other benefits.
Foley, a Democrat and employment attorney, has been on the Newport-Mesa school board and Costa Mesa City Council, she was the city’s first directly elected mayor – and some observers think she may be able to exploit Republicans’ lack of unity to win the election. She has criticized county officials for politicizing the coronavirus pandemic and said she would be more aggressive about getting residents vaccinated and working with cities to reduce homelessness.
All the candidates have said helping the county recover from the pandemic would be job No. 1, and they planned to tackle homeless issues and improve public safety. The District 2 winner also will take part in redrawing supervisor districts this year with data from the 2020 census, and likely will weigh in on how the state-owned Fairview Developmental Center should be developed.
Why the parties care
Supervisor seats are technically non-partisan, which should mean candidates’ political party affiliation hardly matters. But the county Republican and Democratic parties care, a lot, who wins the District 2 seat.
Though Democrats overtook Republicans in voter registration countywide in 2019, District 2 is what Chapman University political science professor Fred Smoller calls a “conservative bastion,” where the GOP has a nearly five-point registration advantage. And while they now hold a 3-1 majority on the board, Republicans may worry that losing District 2 could be a step toward flipping control to Democrats when the District 5 seat comes open in 2022, he said. (District 5 Supervisor Lisa Bartlett is termed out next year.)
Democrats, meanwhile, have told supporters a win would break a 127-year streak of having a Republican represent District 2. “It would be a major feather in their cap” to show they can beat the GOP in an area it has dominated for decades, Smoller said.
But that political gamesmanship likely matters less to most voters, who might not know candidates’ party affiliation (it doesn’t appear next to their names on the ballot) and probably care more about who would be effective in office, Democratic consultant George Urch said.
And while some have used their position as supervisor as a stepping stone to a state legislative or congressional bid, La Habra Councilman Tim Shaw (who worked as an aide in District 1 and in 2018 lost a race for the District 4 seat) said, the job is “too important to make it just some chess move.”
Supervisors can work on public policy full-time and get to address a wide array of issues, Shaw said, but unlike state legislators in Sacramento, you only have to deal with four board colleagues and you go home to your family at night.
“It is the best job in politics.”
Orange County District 2 Supervisors race
A special election will be decided Tuesday, March 9, to fill the vacant Second District seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.
The candidates: Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley, former supervisor and state senator John Moorlach, Newport Beach Councilman Kevin Muldoon, Corona del Mar attorney Janet Rappaport and Fountain Valley Mayor Michael Vo.
The district: It includes Costa Mesa, Cypress, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Stanton, the unincorporated area of Rossmoor, and portions of Buena Park and Fountain Valley.
How to vote: All registered voters in District 2 should have received a ballot at home and can return it by mail or in an official county drop box; in-person voting is available daily through election day. Find a drop box or vote center at www.ocvote.com. Voters can also track their ballot and read candidate statements at the website.