OC District 1 Supervisor faces Westminster councilman in reelection bid
The Nov. 3 election likely won’t dramatically change the Orange County Board of Supervisors because only one board seat is on the ballot – but it will determine whether District 1 Supervisor Andrew Do wins a second full term or gets replaced by Westminster Councilman Sergio Contreras.
Do and Contreras were the first- and second-place finishers among four candidates in the March primary, but Do did not get the 50%-plus-one-vote necessary to avoid a runoff.
Do, a former businessman and prosecutor who was the second Vietnamese-American elected to the board, has held the District 1 seat since a 2015 special election. He won a full term in 2016. He did not respond to interview requests.
Contreras has served on the Westminster School District board and is completing his second term as a city councilman. He also works as senior director of education and healthy schools for the Orange County United Way.
As in the primary, homelessness remains an issue across the county. Contreras said the coronavirus pandemic has worsened the problem, with residents losing businesses, jobs and potentially their homes – and he doesn’t believe the county has a comprehensive approach to address the issue.
County officials have access to more financial resources to address homelessness than cities do, and they should take the lead at building a coalition, Contreras said, adding that if elected supervisor, “I would have conversations with our local city elected leaders.”
Contreras also said he supports building more permanent supportive housing for the formerly homeless and homes affordable for working families, and he said one solution could be turning old shopping centers into affordable homes, as Westminster is doing with a project on Beach Boulevard.
The county has beefed up emergency shelter options in the past few years and is expanding mental health care. On Do’s campaign website, a page about homelessness credits the supervisor with supporting millions in funding for homeless shelters and services, helping lead a coalition that is building a mental health campus and other initiatives.
“Homeless are our people. No family deserves to live on the street,” he said in a campaign video, adding that he would push for affordable and better access to health care, especially for homeless vets.
Contreras said he thinks he could improve on the county’s handling of the pandemic, which he criticized for not providing cities the share they requested of federal aid funding and for “flip-flopping on the mask issue.”
The county’s former health officer issued a face covering mandate in late May, but shortly after she abruptly resigned in June, county public health officials relaxed the order.
Contreras said his approach would include convening health professionals and following their recommendations, and increasing COVID-19 testing.
Do’s website describes him as “first to author the facial mask requirement.” The directive he won board approval for in April requires grocery and other retail workers to wear masks when interacting with the public.
Do’s campaign also points out his work to add parks and bike trails, to help expand low-income residents’ access to health care and to prevent public safety budget cuts.
In an interview ahead of the March primary, he talked about the need to invest more in public transit and the launch of an initiative to provide people with mental health and substance use issues more services to get them out of the cycle of repeated stints in jail. “Compare the county now, with all that we have done in the last five years, most of which I have been the lead on,” Do said at the time.
Contreras said some of his other priorities include providing more assistance for businesses and renters who are at risk due to the pandemic, collaborating with community colleges on job training and certifications to get people back to work, and aggressively pursuing the county’s share of state and federal funding to help residents.
“I’m the son of a janitor, I’m a former dishwasher at Disneyland and now a councilman – I’m Orange County’s story,” Contreras said. “People are struggling. Now is the time where the county needs to play its role of safety net.”
Orange County’s five-member Board of Supervisors oversees a roughly $6 billion budget that pays for services including law enforcement, elections, health care and public works. Supervisors serve four-year terms and are paid an annual salary of about $162,000 plus health and retirement benefits.
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