When Santa Ana’s police-union backed Mayor Valerie Amezcua – the first woman elected to the role – won reelection in 2024 garnering nearly 60% of the vote and beating Councilman Ben Vazquez by about 15,000 votes, she publicly declared herself “the people’s mayor.”
“Yes I am the people’s mayor,” Amezcua said at the Dec. 3, 2024 City Council meeting.
“I have received the highest votes of any mayor in the history of Santa Ana and that is not by accident,” she said a week later at her swearing in to a host of cheers.
Two years later, Amezcua finds herself in one of the tightest races in OC in her latest bid for reelection against two first time candidates – up by only 140 votes.
In Friday evening’s election results update, her initial roughly 13% lead on Election night has narrowed down to a 0.27% lead.
When reached Friday morning, Amezcua told a reporter “oh yeah I can’t talk to you sorry” and hung up the phone immediately.
“I am not available to talk. I also have no comments for any of your stories,” she wrote in a text message shortly after.
After Friday evening’s election result update, Amezcua was in the lead with about 43.4% of the vote closely trailed by Attorney Dan Shimell, who the mayor often criticized as only living in Santa Ana for a short period of time, at 43.15% of the vote.
Shimell said he was encouraged by the result updates so far, noting Amezcua’s initial 4,000 vote lead on election night shrunk to a little over 900 votes by Thursday evening despite the incumbent receiving heavy financial support from the police union.
“We have not seen results this close before against an incumbent. Santa Ana has never voted out an incumbent Mayor since the position became directly elected, and the gap is very close,” he wrote in a Friday text message
“The response from the voters speaks to the very real concerns our residents have over immigration, affordability, and the City’s approach to public safety – including police brutality,” Shimell continued. “Every batch counted since Tuesday has moved in our direction.”
He also said nativist language like the Mayor’s digs about him only living in the city for a short period were meant to divide residents.
Dwayne Shipp, a city commissioner, had almost 13% of the nearly 50,900 votes counted and conceded in an Instagram post Wednesday morning.
Shipp has received backlash from critics who say he split the votes in the mayoral race – a critique he pushed back on in a Thursday Instagram post.
“To those saying I split the vote: nobody owns anybody’s vote. I ran to serve Santa Ana, and the people who voted for me made their own choice. Don’t dismiss their voices because they didn’t choose your candidate,” reads the post’s caption. “I ran my race, and I stand by it.”
Shimell defended Shipp’s mayoral run and said he is a respected member of the Santa Ana community.
“He had a right to run, the same as any other candidate. He ran a positive campaign rooted in the care I know he has for this city. Mr. Shipp’s voters are Santa Ana residents whose concerns are real, and many of them want the same things that we want – change at City Hall,” he wrote.
The tight race comes as three progressive backed candidates are simultaneously on track to flip Santa Ana’s ruling council majority – made up of politicians who are backed by the police union like Amezcua.
Progressive groups including California Working Families Party, Chispa and OC Action collectively spent over $91,000 on their preferred candidates – Councilman Vazquez, Immigrants Rights Activist Sandra De Anda and City Planning Commissioner and Chispa Executive Director Isuri Ramos.
Meanwhile, the police union this year dropped nearly $270,000 on mailers and ads supporting Amezcua, Councilman Phil Bacerra, Attorney Giovanni Chavez and Realtor Selica Diaz and spent about $58,000 collectively on ads and mailers opposing Vazquez and Ramos, as of Nov. 2.
Shimell and Shipp did not receive independent expenditure support but Shimell was endorsed by Chispa.
The close mayoral race comes amid recent scrutiny of city officials for refusing to answer questions about why they held a ribbon cutting for a new aquatic center featuring the entire city council weeks before the election when the pools were not open.
At the same time, there have been demands for police accountability over the viral violent arrest of resident Florentino Lopez and scrutiny over police arresting two immigrant advocates that were observing ICE agents last month, after the federal officers called for help.
It’s not the first time the police department in OC’s only sanctuary city have faced criticism for responding to ICE calls for help.
Police and city officials – particularly Amezcua – also faced scrutiny for the department’s response to ICE protests in June 2025 when officers fired bean bags, rubber bullets and threw tear gas at peaceful protestors after responding to a request for assistance from federal agents.
In the wake of those protests, Amezcua faced demands for her resignation after she put out a statement on social media questioning the futility of the protests and calling them “pure violence” and “destruction” of property and the city.
She also doubled down on those remarks in an ABC7 interview when she said she “is not about photo ops. I’m not going to stand up and raise my arm and give my Chicano – you know – fist pump because it makes me look good.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.
