After nearly a half-century of Republican control, Orange County’s top elected body has now shifted to majority Democrat with the swearing in of former Santa Ana mayor Vicente Sarmiento.

During his ceremonial swearing in before the meeting, Sarmiento said his priorities are to make housing more affordable, reduce homelessness, improve public healthcare services, make the board more transparent, and beef up staffing and funding of civilian oversight over county law enforcement agencies.

He said he’s the first Santa Ana resident on the Board of Supervisors in over 74 years, and “only the third Latino in the county history, to serve as a supervisor.”

But the reality is more complicated.
One of the three Democrats – Chaffeee – is a moderate who often sides with his Republican colleagues on key issues, and was opposed by his own party in last year’s election.