The Santa Ana City Council unanimously elected Ward 2 Councilmember Benjamin Vazquez to serve as Mayor Pro Tem on Tuesday, January 21.
This is somewhat of a consolation prize for Vazquez, who tried to unseat Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua in last November’s General Election. That did not go well for Vazquez who ended up garnering just over 40% of the vote while Amezcua netted almost 60% of the vote.
Mayor Pro Tem is a one-year appointment and serves in the Mayor’s place if the Mayor is absent. Mayor Pro Tem Vazquez replaces Councilmember Thai Viet Phan, who served in the position for the past year.
The Santa Ana City Council Members are usually pretty fair about giving each other a chance to be Mayor Pro Tem. The City of Santa Ana did decide this year to prevent Councilman Johnathan Ryan Hernandez from gaining the title of Mayor Pro Tem after he got busted for mistreating city staff.
Mayor Pro Tem Vazquez is a teacher at Valley High School, a cultural worker at El Centro Cultural de México. He also owns a home in the Heninger Park neighborhood.
Vazquez attended Santa Ana Unified School District schools and Santa Ana College before earning a bachelor’s degree at Cal State Long Beach and a master’s from UCLA.
Vazquez and Hernandez are well known for supporting efforts to defund the police. They have both also sided with pro-Palestinian agitators.
