True to her campaign promises, Katrina Foley is already planning how, after she’s sworn in as the Second District county supervisor, she’ll get more OC residents vaccinated against COVID-19.
Foley, who is still the mayor of Costa Mesa but will give up that post to take the supervisor seat, grabbed a commanding lead once polls closed in a Tuesday, March 9, special election and held onto it as the final votes have been tallied.
After a Friday update, Foley had nearly 44% of the votes cast and a more than 13,000-vote lead over the second place finisher in the five-person race. OC Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said roughly 500 ballots remain to be tallied, most because of signature issues that voters still have time to cure.
The election results could be certified and Foley sworn into her Orange County Board of Supervisors’ seat later this month. Her all-but-certain victory makes her the first Democrat in 127 years, and the first woman from the party, to hold the District 2 seat, according to the Democratic Party of Orange County.
Foley is working on a plan for her first 100 days, she said in a Wednesday interview, her voice hoarse from talking with friends and supporters nonstop since election night.
“Certainly at the top of the list is expediting the vaccine rollout,” she said, and with a fresh round of federal stimulus dollars coming soon, “making sure that we use that funding in a way that helps our small businesses and helps our most struggling families get back on their feet.”
Foley, 53, is a lawyer with her own employment litigation firm and a mother of two college-age sons. She’s served in local government nearly nonstop since winning a Costa Mesa City Council seat in 2004. She’s also been on her local school board.
In November, she had just won a second term as the city’s first directly elected mayor when the District 2 supervisor, Michelle Steel, was elected to Congress, leaving her board seat open. Foley jumped into the race, and while an attack mailer pointed out that she’d been on the ballot three times in the last year – she lost a primary for a state Senate seat in March – that argument apparently didn’t deter voters.
As to what she would do differently to vaccinate more residents, Foley said she’d like to see a mass vaccination site at the OC Fair and Event Center that’s open 24 hours a day, which would accommodate people who work all day and can’t get time off. It should also have a no-appointment line “where people don’t have to deal with an Othena app or get registered online, they can just come in and get their vaccine – I think that would be more equitable for people.”
Unpredictable or scarce vaccine supply has been an ongoing issue, but Foley said she would try to use her relationships to build more partnerships with other vaccinating entities and to increase the flow of doses to the county.
Last year, she joined mayors from most of Orange County’s 34 cities in asking the county for a share of the $554 million in federal aid it got from the CARES Act; the county didn’t grant the request. Now she’ll be on the board, but Foley said the county won’t have to split up its federal funds to help OC’s cities because the latest aid bill grants them money directly.
“I do think there is a need still to get more money out to small businesses to get them some bridge to (re)opening,” she said, and she’d also like to help cash-starved food pantries.
Having a plan is nice, but a big question is how well Foley – who will be one of two Democrats on the five-member board – may be able to persuade colleagues to support her initiatives.
“I’m just going to do my best to collaborate and do what’s in the best interest of Orange County. Hopefully they come on board,” she said.
“Who can be against vaccinating everyone? I mean, come on, that benefits every district.”