Two women announce their campaigns for the Santa Ana City Council’s Ward 3

This November Santa Ana residents will be voting for new City Council Members in several wards, including Ward 3, which includes much of North Santa Ana.

Ward 3 is currently represented by Councilman Jose Solorio, who miffed many in that ward when he carpetbagged to victory back in 2016. His wife and kids stayed behind in Ward 1 while Solorio rented an apartment in Ward 3. Solorio has maintained that apartment as his residence but it is incredibly hard to believe he doesn’t spend 99% of his time with his wife and kids in Ward 1.

Jessie Lopez has announced her campaign for the Santa Ana City Council’s Ward 3. She is an elected member of the Orange County Democratic Party’s Central Committee, representing the 69th Assembly District, and she is an active coalition member of Rise Up Willowick. Rise Up Willowick is a Santa Ana-based coalition that fights for a fair and transparent community-driven process for responsible development. Jessie is a board member for the National Women’s Political Caucus. Jessie also volunteers her time with the Public Law Center, as a Spanish translator, and she volunteers with Planned Parenthood.

One of our readers recently informed us that there is another candidate running for Ward 3. Her name is Janelle Welker. Her story is an interesting one. Her mom fled from Vietnam and married her dad, a veteran of the U.S. Marines, here in the U.S. Welker serves as a Policy Advisor for the Orange County Board of Supervisors. In this position, she helps Orange County residents connect to agencies such as the Social Services Agency when they face challenges applying for public assistance programs and serves as an advocate to connect residents to other resources outside of the County. She has a political science degree from UCI.

Welker has gathered up quite a few endorsements – all Democrats by the looks of it:

• U.S Representative Grace Flores Napolitano
• For. State Senator Josh Newman
• Orange County Board of Supervisor Doug Chaffee
• Anaheim City Commissioner Lashe Rodriguez
• Buena Park Councilmember Sunny Park
• Fullerton City Councilmember Ahmad Zhara
• Fmr. Santa Ana Commissioner Beatrice Mendoza
• City of Fullerton Commissioner Jose Trinidad Castaneda III
• Anaheim Union H.S. District Trustee Al Jabbar
• Centralia Unified School District Trustee Luis “Jerry” Flores
• Orange County Commissioner Claudia Perez Figueroa
• Buena Park City Commissioner Benji Gonzales
• Buena Park City Commissioner Lamiya Hoque

Santa Ana now will have ward-specific elections, as of November. This means Jesse and Janelle will have to find a way to get support from the NIMBYs in Floral Park and Park Santiago. These neighborhoods also have many more white residents as compared to the rest of Santa Ana. My guess is that they will field their own candidate, likely Mark McLaughlin, a former Rancho Santiago Community College District Trustee.

By the way, don’t forget that the Santa Ana City Council Ward maps will be changing as of this November’s City Council elections. Click here to see the old map and click here to see the new one.

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.

See Full Bio