If the Santa Ana Recall Election succeeds our City Council could end up 33% Asian

The City of Santa Ana is 76.8% Latino, according to the U.S. Census. Only 11.8% of Santa Ana’s residents are Asians. But if the May 19 Santa Ana Recall Special election succeeds and Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias is recalled, the net result could be a Santa Ana City Council that is 33% Asian.

When Phil Bacerra won his City Council seat in 2018 he became the first Asian on the City Council in many decades. Bacerra, who is half Filipino, has recruited the leading candidate trying to win Iglesias’ seat. Her name is Thai Viet Phan and she has raised more money than the other candidates. I see her campaign signs all over north Santa Ana.

If Iglesias is recalled and Phan wins then she and Bacerra will take a third of the Santa Ana City Council’s six seats. In a city that is almost 80% Latino we will have a City Council that is 1/3 Asian. That is pretty amazing when you consider that Asians make up less than 12% of Santa Ana’s residents.

If one more Santa Ana City Council seat was won in a subsequent election by another Asian candidate, just like that the Santa Ana City Council would be 50% Asian.

If all of this comes to pass it will be, no doubt, because so many of the City’s white voters have turned on Iglesias. About 9.4% of the city’s residents are white. That is not much but they vote and from what I am seeing in north Santa Ana many if not most of them are lining up with Phan against Iglesias.

Whether or not Iglesias can prevail in the Recall election will come down to one thing – will the City’s majority Latino population bother to vote in the May 19 Special Election? If they don’t, get ready for a City Council that is a third Asian. This will be a historic move away from the current almost all Latino City Council.

This article by the way is not an attempt to tell you how to vote. We are merely pointing out the fact that the upcoming Santa Ana Recall Election could end up having an incredible impact on our city. There have never been two Asians on our City Council at the same time. This could be a historic election.