On election night, Santa Ana City Council member Jessie Lopez found herself in third place, far behind fellow Democratic council colleague David Penaloza and Republican business owner Mayra Ruiz in the race to represent Orange County\u2019s 68th Assembly District. <\/p>\n
Tearful supporters at a California Working Families Party shindig at the Mission Control bar and arcade in downtown Santa Ana hugged Lopez, gifted her flowers and wished her well.<\/p>\n
If the 37-year-old was sad, she didn\u2019t show it. Lopez had seen this game play out before.<\/p>\n
In 2023, the councilmember decisively beat back a recall attempt funded by Santa Ana\u2019s police union and apartment owners who didn\u2019t like her unabashedly progressive views in a city where centrist Democrats have dominated politics for decades and lefty ones were long ostracized. <\/p>\n
I wrote a column<\/a> shortly after, heralding Lopez\u2019s overwhelming victory as a new era for Latino politics in Orange County, where Latinos make up a third of the population but still wield little power.<\/p>\n Lopez spent the next three years along with her fellow progressive Santa Ana council members shoring up the city\u2019s rent control policies and its immigrant defense fund. Nevertheless, few gave Lopez a chance in her assembly race<\/a>.<\/p>\n Penaloza \u2014 who declined to vote when the council deadlocked on whether to cancel Lopez\u2019s recall election \u2014 had the backing of the Orange County and California Democratic Party establishment, from current 68th District Assemblymember Avelino Valencia (who\u2019s running to represent the 34th Senate District) to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas to Katie Porter, a former Orange County congresswoman who ran unsuccessfully for governor this year. <\/p>\n Penaloza\u2019s campaign mailers and video ads were so ubiquitous these past few weeks that they filled up my mailbox and interrupted my binging of Hulu\u2019s \u201cVanderpump Villa.\u201d<\/p>\n So did anti-Lopez mailers and commercials, funded by nearly $2.7 million in independent expenditures. Yet Lopez once again beat back her well-funded opposition.<\/p>\n As of Wednesday evening, the latest Orange County Registrar of Voters election results had her in second place \u2014 less than 1,000 votes away from Penaloza.<\/p>\n \u201cVoters proved that while money can influence politics, it can\u2019t buy community support,\u201d Lopez said this week as she unsuccessfully tried to enjoy tacos and guacamole at Lola Gaspar in downtown Santa Ana, where well-wishers kept calling her or congratulating the candidate in person. \u201cThis race is about the future of California \u2014 whether we answer to corporations and insiders or to the hard-working people we\u2019re elected to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n With Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento easily winning reelection and Unite Here Local 11 co-president Ada Brice\u00f1o currently coming up short in her bid to represent the 67th Assembly District, which includes parts of Los Angeles County, Lopez may be the sole O.C. Latino progressive running in November for a seat beyond the local level.<\/p>\n Expect Lopez versus Penaloza to become a referendum on whether the leftward trend of Latino voters in Orange County continues \u2014 or whether its center holds.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve chosen my side,\u201d Lopez told me. \u201cI\u2019m proud to stand with working people.\u201d<\/p>\n Then she excused herself \u2014 someone else wanted to say what\u2019s up.<\/p>\n Insights <\/p>\n L.A. Times Insights<\/a> delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. Insights does not appear on any news articles. <\/p>\n Viewpoint This article generally aligns with a Center Left<\/b> point of view. Learn more about this AI-generated analysis<\/a> Perspectives <\/p>\n The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.<\/p>\n Ideas expressed in the piece<\/p>\n The column portrays Jessie Lopez as a symbol of an emergent, unapologetically progressive Latino politics in Orange County, arguing that this movement is challenging decades of centrist Democratic dominance and Latino underrepresentation in positions of real power.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n It emphasizes that Lopez\u2019s political credibility comes from having already survived a 2023 recall effort backed by Santa Ana\u2019s police union and apartment owners, which the piece describes as a decisive victory that marked a turning point for left-leaning Latinos in the region.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n The article frames Lopez\u2019s record on the Santa Ana City Council\u2014particularly work to strengthen rent control and expand an immigrant defense fund\u2014as proof that progressive Latinos are now governing, not just organizing, and that these policies are resonating with working-class residents.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n It stresses the scale of opposition Lopez faces, noting that powerful interests and nearly $2.7 million in independent expenditures were deployed against her, and yet she still advanced to November, which the article casts as evidence that grassroots support can overcome big money in politics.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The column contrasts Lopez\u2019s underdog status with the institutional backing behind rival Democrat David Penaloza, who is aligned with the county and state Democratic establishment, and interprets Lopez\u2019s surge into second place as a rebuke to party insiders who had largely written off her chances.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n It presents Lopez\u2019s own framing of the race as a choice between \u201ccorporations and insiders\u201d and \u201chard-working people,\u201d highlighting endorsements from labor and progressive leaders as reinforcing her identity as a champion for working families rather than entrenched interests.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n The piece suggests that the Lopez\u2013Penaloza matchup will function as a broader referendum on whether Latino voters in Orange County will continue a leftward drift or whether a more centrist orientation will reassert itself, positioning Lopez as the standard-bearer for the progressive side of that divide.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n It further underscores Lopez\u2019s uniqueness by noting that, with some other Latino progressives either safely re-elected at the local level or trailing in their own legislative bids, Lopez may be the only Orange County Latino progressive on the November ballot for higher office, heightening the stakes of her campaign.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Different views on the topic<\/p>\n Critics of Lopez in Santa Ana have argued that the councilmember\u2019s agenda is too ideologically driven and insufficiently attentive to public safety and fiscal stability, a view that surfaced prominently during the 2023 recall, when backers contended that her policy positions undermined effective governance and community security.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Recall supporters, including police union and property-owner interests, have maintained that Lopez\u2019s role in strengthening rent control and supporting tenant protections represents an overreach that they believe discourages investment, burdens small landlords, and could ultimately reduce the supply and quality of housing in the city.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Opponents have further asserted that her stances on issues such as policing and criminal justice skew too far left for parts of the electorate, arguing that more moderate Democrats or centrist candidates are better positioned to balance reform with public safety and to appeal to a broader cross-section of Orange County voters.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n From the perspective of some business-oriented and landlord groups, Lopez\u2019s alignment with organized labor and progressive advocacy organizations, along with endorsements from high-profile national progressives, signals a policy direction they associate with higher regulatory costs, stricter labor standards, and a political climate they view as hostile to business growth.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Within Democratic circles, the strong institutional support for David Penaloza and other establishment-aligned candidates reflects a competing view that stability, incremental change, and coalition-building with moderates are more effective strategies in competitive areas like Orange County than the confrontational style and ambitious reforms favored by progressive challengers.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Additionally, some analysts and political operatives point to mixed results for progressive Latino candidates elsewhere in the region as evidence that Lopez\u2019s success is not guaranteed to translate into a broader realignment, and argue that many Latino voters in Orange County remain pragmatic swing voters rather than committed partisans of the left.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Skeptics of Lopez\u2019s framing of \u201cinsiders versus working people\u201d contend that such rhetoric oversimplifies complex policy debates, noting that unions, nonprofits, and progressive political organizations backing her are themselves powerful actors that shape legislation and budgets, and that community interests cannot be neatly divided into grassroots versus establishment.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Finally, opponents warn that if Lopez\u2019s approach becomes the dominant model for Latino politics in Orange County, it could sharpen ideological polarization inside local Democratic politics, potentially weakening the party\u2019s ability to compete against Republicans in closely contested districts and to assemble broad coalitions needed to pass durable reforms.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On election night, Santa Ana City Council member Jessie Lopez found herself in third place, far behind 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