The race for the Orange County Board of Supervisors 1st District seat is already heating up.
Former Assemblymember Van Tran and Westminster Councilmember Kimberly Ho both announced their campaigns on Wednesday morning, Feb. 15, for the seat currently held by Supervisor Andrew Do.
Do will not be able to seek reelection next year because of term limits; supervisors can serve a maximum of two four-year terms.
Tran, who now works as Do’s chief of staff and as a director at the Orange County Water District, wants to prioritize public safety, transportation, public health and economic development.
“The 1st District will need a strong voice that speaks for the interest of its residents on a wide range of issues, from maintaining affordable health care to dealing with the plight of the homeless,” said Tran.
To move Orange County forward, Tran said he would seek to bring “transparency and accountability to county government.”
His top priority is “being a strong voice for the working family.”
Tran, a Republican, was first elected to the State Assembly in 2004, becoming the first Vietnamese-American in the U.S. to be elected to any state legislature, and served on Garden Grove’s council. The run for the supervisor’s seat, he said, “is a very natural progression” of his public sector service, and he’s gotten Do’s support in the race.
Ho, who has served on Westminster’s City Council since 2016, said she hopes to use her background as a pharmacist to address affordable health care needs in Orange County, particularly for low-income communities, the elderly and children.
“It really helps to have someone in the health care field who understands and empathizes … with the people that we serve,” she said.
Another key priority for Ho is to foster “an economy that encourages growth.” She hopes to achieve this by “cutting red tape, creating a less cumbersome environment, encouraging businesses to invest into recovery and bringing our technological advantages in serving the residents.”
“We need a conservative blueprint for our voice in the district,” Ho said.
Ho said she has received an endorsement from former Fountain Valley Mayor Ben Nielsen.
In 2022, Ho was a Republican candidate for an Assembly seat but lost in the primary election. She also lost her mayoral bid last year.
The 1st District covers the cities of Cypress, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, La Palma, Seal Beach, Westminster, some portions of Garden Grove and the unincorporated communities of Midway City and Rossmoor.
Last week, OC Supervisor Don Wagner announced a reelection campaign for District 3. The elections for both Districts 1 and 3 will be held in 2024 while the seats for Districts 2, 4 and 5 will be on the ballot in 2026.
