Will Ceci Iglesias become Santa Ana’s next Mayor?

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is finally going to term out which means that after some 20 years Santa Ana will finally have a chance to elect a new Mayor, next year.

Current Ward 3 City Councilman Jose Solorio has been plotting for some time to replace Pulido but his odds now look less than great. He has angered the residents of Ward 3 over development issues to such an extent that I don’t think he could win reelection in that Ward, which might be for the best since he left his wife and kids in Ward 1 when he ran for Ward 3.

Compounding Solorio’s bad luck are the rumors that several former City Council Members could be looking to replace Pulido as well, including the likes of Sal Tinajero, Vince Sarmiento and perhaps even Michele Martinez and David Benavides.

These candidates are all Democrats and their views are similar. They will all subtract votes from each other. And I am not entirely sure that the voters want to elect a retreaded perennial candidate.

Over the past few weeks there has been an attempt to recall current City Councilwoman Ceci Iglesias. While the local police union leaders are saying they are not behind the recall it is pretty obvious that they are – as they are not pleased that Iglesias did not back their huge contract – which was not exactly a financially responsible raise.

Those same police union leaders have lined up behind Solorio. Now they must surely be pulling their hairs out as Iglesias just announced on Facebook yesterday that she intends to run for Mayor. If she does run it is fairly certain that she will win as the rest of the candidates will divvy up the same voter base while Iglesias now has support from both the left and the right.

Iglesias has always been fairly independent minded but her clash with the police union has made her a hero to Santa Ana’s progressive activists – something I never saw coming. She is already hugely popular in Santa Ana’s faith community. Garnering the support of the most liberal voters in our city on top of her more conservative voter support makes her the clear favorite to replace Pulido.

Pulido by the way is currently running against First District Supervisor Andrew Do. If former State Senator Janet Nguyen also files against Do it could divide the Vietnamese vote and put Pulido on the O.C. Board of Supervisors. However my sources tell me that if the current City Council makes certain changes to the City’s charter it could result in Pulido getting a new set of terms – which means we could see him run for Mayor yet again, should he lose his Supervisor’s race.

Solorio must have thought that the recall effort against Iglesias was a great idea. But that recall effort is a joke and now it looks like Iglesias is going to dash his dreams and take the Mayor’s office Solorio has long been lusting for.

Will the voters dig what Iglesias has to offer? I think so. She does not support over-development, she consistently opposes new taxes and fees and is a longtime fighter against government waste. She is also a longtime supporter of our immigrant community as Iglesias herself came here from El Savador when she was a little girl. I think the voters will like what Iglesias has to say about Santa Ana’s future. What do you think?