Mon. Dec 23rd, 2024

The nomination period for Ward 4 on the Santa Ana City Council closed on August 9. We now know who the candidates will be – and it is a crowded filed. They are vying to replace Roman Reyna, the Councilman who had to resign when he was sued for issues related to his campaign paperwork (essentially he fudged his voting address and got caught).

The candidates include:

  • Phil Bacerra – A former Santa Ana Planning Commissioner who barely lost to Reyna last time around. Check out his website here.
  • Beatriz Mendoza – A former staffer to U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Mendoza has previously run for the SAUSD School Board too.
  • Brandon Sisco – His website claims that  at 15 assisted the FBI. He owns a company called Android Genius. Their Yelp reviews are very entertaining! Another website claims he is a real estate developer.
  • Bishop Oliver Gale, Jr. – He heads up the Greater Light Family Church, located at 1600 W. 3rd St. in Santa Ana.
  • Manuel Escamilla – His website notes that Escamilla “grew up at the McFadden Public Library and Jerome Recreation Center in central Santa Ana.” He is a graduate of SAUSD, SAC, UC Berkeley, and UCLA. He served as a City representative on the Santa Ana Arts & Cultural Master Plan and remained on staff in the City of Santa Ana’s Planning Department until he left to run for Ward 4.
  • Jennifer Oliva – She is an Arts and Culture Commissioner in Santa Ana.

Where were all these candidates last time around? I am glad to see that there is so much interest now in the Ward 4 seat. This is a crowded race with a lot of high quality candidates.

The election is set for November 5, 2019.

author avatar
Art Pedroza Editor
Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

By Art Pedroza

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

3 thoughts on “The Ward 4 candidates to replace Reyna are set for the Nov. 5 special election”
  1. The graduate from the sausd will get my vote. He might be my neighbor because I myself went to school in that area. Monte vista behind Jerome
    Park. Carr and then valley

  2. Anonymous, you would cast a vote for an elected official because you think that he might be your neighbor? That positively frightens me to know a vote can be decided on such profound and well-researched criteria. Yikes.

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