By NORBERTO SANTANA JR., Voice Of OC
Close on the heels of Janet Nguyen’s victory in the race for his 34th District state Senate seat, termed out Sen. Lou Correa Wednesday announced his candidacy for her seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.
Lou Correa (Photo from Nguoi Viet)
“I’m definitely in,” said Correa, referring to the special election for Nguyen’s seat expected to take place on Feb. 3.
Correa, a socially conservative, pro-business Democrat, already served one term as the First District supervisor from 2004 to 2006. He represented the same area in the State Assembly from 1998 to 2004.
He joins Garden Grove Councilman Chris Phan, who in June announced his intentions to run for Nguyen’s seat in the event of her victory in the state Senate race.
Others being mentioned as possible candidates include Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, former Santa Ana Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez and Garden Grove City Councilwoman Dina Nguyen.
Correa grew up in Anaheim but now lives in Santa Ana and was being courted earlier this year to challenge Pulido for Mayor. Correa ultimately decided not to run for that seat and Pulido easily won reelection Tuesday.
Given his background, Correa said running for supervisor is a natural fit.
“I work for the community,” Correa said. “I love retail politics,” Correa said adding, “I believe in my office and care deeply about representing my constituents.”
Phan, a Republican, took a shot at Correa for his previous public service.
“I have a lot of respect for the senator — he’s definitely done a great job,” Phan said. “At the same time, if you follow history, he was a supervisor before. I don’t think these seats should be a safe harbor waiting for another opportunity.”
Correa said after decades in public service dealing with Orange County issues at all levels of state and local government, “one of the things I bring back is experience,” noting that the county’s interaction with federal and state agencies can be “complex.”
Whether it’s mental health grant funding from the state, homelessness, realignment of prison funding, veterans services — even medical marijuana — Correa said he’s got a host of experience to help address critical funding and programmatic challenges without a focus on partisanship.
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