Now sworn back in for another term, Santa Ana’s four incumbents said winning November’s election let’s them resume their focus on meeting public safety, housing and budget needs, among others, and continuing to make big improvements in the city.

Mayor Valerie Amezcua fended off a challenge in November from Councilmember Benjamin Vazquez, solidifying her second term in office. Councilmembers Thai Viet Phan, Jessie Lopez (in the tightest of the races the city saw this election) and Johnathan Hernandez all won another four-year term.

Phan in Ward 1, Lopez in Ward 3, and Hernandez in Ward 5, were all first elected in 2020. Amezcua, a retired probation officer and a former Santa Ana school board member, was originally elected in 2022.

Amezcua said she earned voters’ confidence because her priorities never changed.

“For me, it is always about public safety and the quality of life, and I won’t change that because it is very important to our community,” she said. “We all want to be safe. We all want a good quality of life. We want Santa Ana to thrive.”

She said her vision is to change Santa Ana for the better and she committed to working with all councilmembers toward that goal.

“​​For many years, Santa Ana was looked upon as that city where there’s crime and gang activity and it’s dangerous and you don’t want to go there. That’s not the case,” Amezcua said. “Santa Ana is a beautiful city. Every city everywhere has problems … but you see the city of Santa Ana addressing it.”

Measure X, which voters adopted in 2018 adding an extra 1.5% to the sales tax on local purchases, will sunset in a few years, meaning the next City Council will likely start to face some tough budget choices. One of Amezcua’s goals entering her second term as mayor is to “be proactive” in preparing the city for this loss of revenue, she said, as well as addressing homelessness and improving the community’s relationship with police officers.

“When I got elected I felt that one of my responsibilities, and I still feel that way, is that I want people to see officers as who they are. Yes, they’re police officers, but they’re also fathers and husbands and they have families. They’re people just like you,” Amezcua said. “And yes, they may make mistakes, however, we all do, right? They’re here to keep us safe.

“If an officer does something wrong, we hold them accountable. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s the right thing to do,” she added.

The budget is also a priority for Phan, who attributed her success to promoting affordable housing and renter protections, prioritizing public safety and being engaged with her community.

“I’m making sure that I represent my residents and am doing the work to implement the platform that I ran on,” Phan said. “The most visible things include services for the west side, whether it’s investments we’ve made in the Santa Anita Community Center, Santa Anita Park, Newhope library.”

Phan said she would like to see the city collaborate more with other agencies, including the county and CalOptima Health, the provider of publicly funded health coverage in Orange County.

“We’re the best when we collaborate with our colleagues and our partners and our friends, and even people who don’t always agree with us,” Phan said. “A lot of my work is about trying to unify different people and groups, trying to find consensus.”

During the swearing-in ceremony on Dec. 10, Hernandez said he was humbled and honored to be re-elected as the representative of Ward 5.

“As councilmember, I have led efforts to pass public policy that improve the quality of life and addresses inequalities,” Hernandez said, pointing to rent control and affordable housing. “The people want progress and that’s what we’re going to give to them.”

Hernandez did not return calls for an interview.

Lopez said her re-election reflects the trust she has earned from her constituents.

“When I took office, I promised to focus on delivering tangible results that improve the lives of our neighbors, and that’s exactly what I’ve done,” Lopez said. “And we can point to specific policies like police oversight, rent stabilization, (and) youth investments.”

Similar to her newly reelected colleagues, Lopez said her priorities remain consistent. She wants to focus on the housing crisis, maintaining a strong budget, the city’s youth and homelessness issues.

But the city needs to think outside of the box when it comes to homelessness, she added. At its next meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 17, the City Council will again consider an anti-camping law that would prohibit sleeping in tents or storing personal belongings in public spaces – what Lopez called a Band-Aid fix.

“That doesn’t get us very far, because we see all around the city, medians that have signs that say no loitering, no selling, and we continue to see those things happen,” Lopez said. “We must get to the root cause of these issues because it is a crisis at a level that we’ve never experienced. Our voters deserve for us to invest in real solutions and not false advertisement.”

“I’m here to build a better future for all of us in the city because we are one community,” Lopez added. “We don’t live in separate islands, and that is the work that I’ve been committed to prior to being on the dais.”

Vazquez will continue representing the city’s Ward 2 and Phil Bacerra represents Ward 4. Their terms are up in 2026.

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