Harley Rouda Endorsements

• California Professional Firefighters
• California Federation of Teachers
• Sierra Club

Michelle Steel Endorsements

• Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes
• Former U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48)
• Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association PAC

Melissa Fox Endorsements

• U.S. Representative Katie Porter (CA-45)
• Former Irvine Mayors Sukhee Kang and Beth Krom
• California Nurses Association
• California Teachers Association

Steven Choi Endorsements

• Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel, Vice-Chair
• Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
• Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs
• Lincoln Club of Orange County

OCCET Action endorses Susan Sonne for Buena Park City Council District 3.

Susan Sonne is a businessperson in the IT field. She is involved with the nonprofit groups Buena Park Collaborative and the Buena Park Community Resource Center, which work on local issues including housing and mental health. Sonne served in the Buena Park Police Chief’s Advisory Board and the Buena Park Beautification-Environmental Commission.

Sonne’s top priorities include:

• educating residents on public health in the era of the COVID-19
• ensure issue experts, and not the police, to address social concerns
• affordable housing

OCCET Action endorses Fred Jung for Fullerton City Council District 1.

Fred Jung is the owner of a small sports apparel business, football coach, and founder of the youth football nonprofit organization Junior All American Bears.

Jung’s top priorities include:

• affordable housing
• infrastructure repair
• environment

OCCET Action endorses Aaruni Thakur for Fullerton City Council District 4.

Aaruni Thakur is a workers’ compensation attorney and community organizer. Thakur has served in the Fullerton School Board and the city’s commissions of Energy and Parks and Recreation.

Thakur’s top priorities include:

• supporting pro-worker policies and encouraging protection in the era of COVID
• fixing roads and potholes
• real, compassionate solutions to the homelessness crisis

OCCET Action endorses Julie Diep for Garden Grove City Council District 2.

Julie Diep is a business owner and therapist, founding a non-profit organization to improve the lives of people with speech disability or autism.

Diep’s top priorities include:

• economic recovery that promotes small businesses and full employment
• streets that are safe to walk
• public parks

OCCET Action endorses Bob Tucker for Garden Grove City Council District 5.

Bob Tucker is a retired queer union representative and local activist. Tucker works at the Garden Grove Unified School District as a union-appointed personnel commissioner, and is involved with the Santa Ana Workforce Development Board’s Youth Council as well as the local Home Owner’s Association.

Tucker’s top priorities include:

• ensuring that Garden Grove spends its budget in community services instead of allocating 52% towards police
• expand latinx community outreach
• address COVID economic issues in the city

OCCET Action endorses Vicente Sarmiento for Mayor of Santa Ana.

Vicente Sarmiento is Santa Ana’s city councilmember and an attorney working with bankruptcy law and local nonprofits. He is the child of Bolivian immigrants.

His priorities include:

• increasing parks
• reducing homelessness
• providing more affordable housing for working families
• investing in youth programs
• supporting efforts to make our neighborhoods safer

OCCET Action endorses Thai Viet Phan for Santa Ana City Council Ward 1.

Thái Việt Phan is an attorney in a law firm and is the child of refugees of the Vietnam War. Phan serves in the Santa Ana Planning Commission, Vietnamese American Bar Association, and the Heritage Museum of Orange County.

Phan’s priorities include:

• promoting housing affordability by increasing non-luxury development and capturing in-lieu fees
• help small businesses and residents survive the Coronavirus crisis by increasing in-language outreach and balanced distribution of federal funds
• reform public safety, increasing trust in institutions

OCCET Action endorses Jessie Lopez for Santa Ana City Council Ward 3.

Jessie Lopez is a community health advocate at the non-profit Latino Health Access, engaged to various local groups and initiatives to improve the community.

Lopez’s priorities include:

• building and protecting affordable housing
• a just and equitable city budget that invests in the youth
• expanding open spaces, especially in marginalized communities

OCCET Action endorses Alfonso Alvarez for Santa Ana School Board.

Alfonso Alvarez works in the social service field ensuring that children are supported and have the opportunity to receive quality education and succeed in their goals. Alvarez is a current board member of the Santa Ana School Board, running for reelection.

Alvarez’s priorities include:

• continue to support students to learn while facing the COVID-19 crisis, with a focus on providing food for students, mental health, and support for students who are homeless.

OCCET Action endorses Carolyn Torres for Santa Ana School Board.

Carolyn Torres is a teacher at Dale Junior High School in Anaheim, and an activist and community organizer.

Torres’ priorities during the pandemic include:

• ensuring that students have access to the needed technology
• ensuring that educators have the training they need
• ensuring that classified staff can work in a safe environment.

OCCET Action endorses Rigoberto Rodriguez for Santa Ana School Board.

Rigoberto Rodriguez is a professor at California State University – Long Beach with three decades of activism. He is the child of Mexican immigrant farmworker parents.

Rodriguez’s priorities include:

• delivering quality and equitative education to all students
• ensuring students are holistically well
• providing an inclusive curriculum, including ethnic studies.

OCCET Action endorses Farrah Khan for Mayor of Irvine.

Farrah Khan is a co-owner of a restaurant, a City Council member of Irvine, and has worked in business as well as nonprofits.

Khan’s priorities include:

• inclusionary housing, expanding housing for seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities or experiencing homelessness
• reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• economic recovery from the injury caused by the pandemic
• rental assistance
• addressing police brutality by expanding body cams and education of police officers

OCCET Action endorses Tammy Kim for Irvine City Council.

Tammy Kim is the founder of the non-profit Korean American Center providing assistance to the immigrant community. Kim also worked at various companies in the high tech sector.

Kim’s priorities include:

• creating a full spectrum of housing opportunities with a focus on affordable housing
• economic and environmental sustainability
• social justice, diversity and inclusion.

Photo Credit: This webpage is licensed with Creative Commons BY-SA, and uses photos under compatible copyright licenses. Joint Session of Congress (Public Domain), Sacramento Capitol, Garden Grove Methodist Church, Downtown Fullerton, Julia Lathrop Junior High School, Irvine Regional Park (BY), Old Courthouse Santa Ana (BY-SA). Candidate photos are from candidates’ websites.