Tonight, Santa Ana’s downtown area will be bristling with campaign workers from all over the county with a half dozen campaigns converging on the Plaza of the Artists along Santa Ana’s Second Street to celebrate democracy and a hard-fought campaign.
Among the high-profile officials expected is Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who is holding her Election Night party in the plaza.
Santa Ana’s Mayor Miguel Pulido and other pols credited the Voice of OC’s June primary event for spiking momentum along the downtown for a November celebration.
He said more than one thousand people are expected. Taco trucks will provide free food along with Mariachi and Rock ‘n’ Roll music. There will be large-screen televisions, and all the local restaurants will be open.
It’s a great way to show off the emerging downtown district, Pulido said, and you can expect the same from now on with every countywide election in Orange County.
“We’re 12 years into it,” Pulido said about the development of the Artists Village in downtown Santa Ana. And election night is the kind of countywide celebration that was always envisioned, he said.
“Santa Ana is downtown Orange County,” said State Assemblyman Jose Solorio, whose campaign is also joining the celebration. “It’s central, it’s energetic and it’s the focal point of Democratic politics in our county.”
The ideal thing about the plaza on Santa Ana’s Second Street, Solorio added, is that people can “party hop” between several celebrations that connect to each other through the main plaza — kind of like democracy itself.
A half-dozen campaigns will be at the area later tonight, including Pulidos’ main mayoral challenger Alfredo Amezcua and State Senator Lou Correa. Orange County’s Labor Federation also will be joining the celebrations as their poll workers and volunteers converge on the area once the polls close.
“It’s long overdue,” Correa said of the large street celebration. He called downtown Santa Ana “a great place to hang out” and the idea for the celebrations will create “a great marketplace for a community discussion.”
The Voice of OC offices will be humming until the wee hours — so please stop on by.