Telepeer

Vicente Sarmiento, OC Board of Supervisors District 2, 2026 primary election questionnaire

May 6, 2026

Ahead of the June primary election, the Southern California News Group compiled a list of questions to pose to the candidates who wish to represent you. You can find the full questionnaire below. Questionnaires may have been edited for spelling, grammar, length and, in some instances, to remove hate speech and offensive language.

Name: Vicente Sarmiento

Current job title: Orange County Supervisor – Second District

Age: 62

Incumbent: Yes

Other political positions held: Santa Ana City Councilmember, Santa Ana Mayor

City where you reside: Santa Ana

Campaign website or social media: www.sarmientoforsupervisor.com

In your opinion, what is the biggest need your district faces, and how would you address it through the Board of Supervisors? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)

The most important need facing my district is affordability. I represent many working families, renters, immigrants and seniors. Since housing is the single largest expense for most, I have attempted to increase the inventory of affordable housing in my roles as county supervisor, chair of CalOptima, and director with the OC Housing Finance Trust. In these respective roles, I have also helped increase funding for food pantries, stood up a childcare incubator initiative, and attempted to keep environmental health permit fees low for our small businesses.

Where do you think the county is effectively spending to address the needs of unhoused residents, and what would you change about where money spent on homelessness is prioritized? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)

The county is effectively spending resources on mental health care and medical care for the unhoused. One program that we brought to my district that is incredibly successful is the “Street Medicine” program. This program brings medical services directly to the population who needs it, and meets them where they are.

More funding must be invested in prevention. Studies demonstrate that it is far more cost effective to prevent someone from becoming unhoused, rather than housing someone on the street with consequent mental health and substance use problems. That is why our office introduced the Homeless Prevention and Stabilization Pilot Program for families facing eviction. The program provides funds to cure rental, utility and medical arrears, coupled with on-going stabilization dollars and wrap-around services to ensure success.

Looking at the county’s annual budget, what would you like to change about how funds are allocated? Is there a department or project that has not received the funding it needs? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)

As a safety net agency, the county’s primary responsibility is to meet the basic needs of our neighbors that struggle with a lack of healthcare, social and behavioral services, and assisting the justice involved. As a result, we must continue to support our front-line eligibility workers, social workers and public defenders that have a tough time living in our beautiful county that has become increasingly unaffordable.

I believe we are spending too much of our limited resources on a select few departments within the county to the detriment of other departments. I hear the same arguments being made from our county front-line staff to the attorneys who work in our justice system. It is expensive to live in this county and our level of pay may be comparative to surrounding counties, but our cost of living is not. This makes it difficult to retain our employees and keep them from leaving to more affordable nearby counties offering similar compensation.

The public expects transparency from public leaders in spending and governance. How can this be achieved? How can the county do better in this area? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)

I believe there needs to be accountability for anyone who is involved in spending taxpayer money. I was one of the first elected officials in OC to call for the resignation of Andrew Do. I supported a sunshine ordinance when I was mayor of Santa Ana and have tried to bring one to the county. During the Do corruption scandal, I proposed a requirement to disclose familial relations when voting on public contracts, my proposal was defeated. County business should be transparent and accountable to the people it serves. In late 2023, I advocated successfully to have an external forensic audit of contracts during Do’s tenure. In the aftermath, the board has introduced solid corrective action for increased transparency, better governance, and stronger oversight. However, we continue to have an ineffective ethics ordinance that prevents accountability by the commission and director. I have called for reforms to county ethics policies, and requested an expansion for disclosing potential conflicts of interest. This is one of the easiest problems to solve if we could get more people to support it.

Social services providers say they expect to see a continued rise in food and housing insecurity this year. In addition, many low-income residents may lose health care as new eligibility requirements for Medi-Cal are implemented. What role do you think the county can play in supporting people who are falling through the cracks? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)

The county can be proactive in assisting people at risk of losing their healthcare. As the chair of CalOptima, we have invested $20 million in hiring eligibility workers from the Social Services Agency to help retain Medi-Cal members. We have also funded campaign efforts in multiple languages to advise CalOptima members about changes to redetermination, Cal-Fresh and new work requirements.

As a county we can also help provide temporary assistance, similar to what my office has done with offering rental assistance and utility payment assistance. My office also provided funding for long-standing nonprofits such as the Friendly Center in Orange. They created a community store that provides community members an opportunity to receive food staples and help keep families fed. This model of assistance has been a tremendous success.

Why would you make a good leader, and how would you represent the diverse communities of your district? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)

My district is the most urban, densely populated, and diverse in the entire county. It is also the most beautiful. I am a product of OC. My family arrived in Santa Ana in 1965, and I continue to live in the same neighborhood where I was raised. I am a product of the public school system, and have friends and family in every corner of our county. As an immigrant that has lived the Orange County dream of becoming an attorney, public servant and father to children raised in the same place I grew up in that gives me a unique perspective on governing our evolving county. However, as beautiful as our county’s climate, topography, and businesses are — our diverse population is what makes Orange County special.

Orange County Register

News Details

Vicente Sarmiento, OC Board of Supervisors District 2, 2026 primary election questionnaire

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS