The board consists of five supervisors elected by districts to four-year terms by the citizens of Orange County. The supervisors represent districts of approximately 600,000 people.
Supervisorial elections take place during the primary election, with run-off elections (if necessary) in November. Supervisorial terms begin the first Monday after January 1 after the election. Vacancies on the board are filled via special election since Orange County voters adopted a county charter in March 2002. Prior to the adoption of the charter, vacancies on the board were filled by appointment by the governor of California. The December 1996 appointment of Laguna NiguelCity CouncilmanThomas W. Wilson by Governor Pete Wilson (no relation) was the last time that a gubernatorial appointment was used to fill a supervisorial vacancy (Supervisor Marian Bergeson had resigned to become the California Secretary for Education). The January 2003 special election of former State AssemblymanBill Campbell was the first time that a special election was used to fill a supervisorial vacancy (Supervisor Todd Spitzer had resigned after he was elected to the State Assembly to replace the term-limited Campbell).
The board makes decisions relating to land use, public utilities, and transportation, both directly and indirectly through its power over budgets and appointments to boards, committees, and commissions. Services that are ultimately managed by the board include regional parks, water, sewers, animal control, buses, freeways, and commuter rail.
Since voters adopted Measure V, the creation of the county charter, in March 2002, vacancies on the Board of Supervisors have been filled by special election.
January 28, 2003, Third District special election
Orange County Board of Supervisors special election, 2003
←2000
January 28, 2003
2004→
1 of 5 seats to the Orange County Board of Supervisors
The first special election used to fill a vacancy on the Orange County Board of Supervisors was held on January 28, 2003. Third District Supervisor Todd Spitzer had resigned on November 19, 2002, in preparation for taking office as a member of the California State Assembly on December 2 to replace the term-limitedBill Campbell. Campbell, in turn, easily won the special election to fill the remaining two years of Spitzer's term.
The second special election used to fill a vacancy on the Orange County Board of Supervisors was held on February 6, 2007. First District Supervisor Lou Correa had resigned on December 4, 2006, when he took office as a member of the California State Senate to replace the term-limitedJoe Dunn.
The third special election used to fill a vacancy on the Orange County Board of Supervisors was held on June 8, 2010, and was consolidated with the regular primary election for the next term for the seat. Fourth District Supervisor Chris Norby had resigned on January 29, 2010, when he took office as a member of the California State Assembly to replace Mike Duvall, who had resigned from the Assembly in the wake of a lobbyist sex scandal.
FullertonCity CouncilmanShawn Nelson won the seat by 12% over AnaheimCity CouncilmanHarry Sidhu. While Nelson won the special election to fill the remaining seven months of Norby's term, the special election was consolidated with the regular primary election, so Nelson and Sidhu advanced to a November run-off election to win the four-year term due to begin in January 2011. Nelson won the election for the 2011–2015 term by a 63%–37% margin, and would go on to hold the position until January 2019.
The fourth special election used to fill a vacancy on the Orange County Board of Supervisors was held on January 27, 2015. First District Supervisor Janet Nguyen had resigned on December 1, 2014, when she took office as a member of the California State Senate to replace the term-limitedLou Correa. Ironically, Nguyen had been elected as First District Supervisor in a February 6, 2007, special election to replace Correa, who had resigned when he took office as a member of the California State Senate to replace the term-limited Joe Dunn.
Former Garden GroveCity CouncilmanAndrew Do, Nguyen's supervisorial Chief of Staff, won the special election to fill the remaining two years of the term by 43 votes over Correa.
The fifth special election used to fill a vacancy on the Orange County Board of Supervisors was held on March 12, 2019. Third District Supervisor Todd Spitzer had resigned on January 7, 2019, when he took office as District Attorney of Orange County after defeating incumbent Tony Rackauckas.
The sixth special election used to fill a vacancy on the Orange County Board of Supervisors was held on March 9, 2021. Second District Supervisor Michelle Steel had resigned on January 3, 2021, when she took office as a member of the United States House of Representatives after defeating incumbent Harley Rouda.
Following are the special districts managed by the Orange County Board of Supervisors
Flood control
Development agency
Lighting
County Service Area
Sewer Maintenance
Chairs and Vice Chairs
Harriett Wieder became the first woman to serve as Vice Chair in 1980 and as Chair in 1984. Patricia C. Bates and Janet Nguyen became the first pair of women to serve as Chair and Vice Chair concurrently in 2009.
Gaddi Vasquez became the first Latino to serve as Vice Chair in 1990 and as Chair in 1991.
Janet Nguyen became the first Asian American to serve as Vice Chair in 2009 and Chair in 2010. Lisa Bartlett and Michelle Steel became the first pair of Asian Americans to serve as Chair and Vice Chair concurrently in 2016.
1 2 Joseph Hawkins was a registered Democrat during his first term as a Supervisor but was a registered member of the Populist Party for his second term
↑ George McCampbell was appointed by Governor James Budd in April 1898 to replace A. Guy Smith, who had died in office in March
↑ DeWitt Pixley was elected as a Silver Republican but became a Democrat during his term
↑ Thomas Talbert was appointed by Governor James Gillett in August 1909 to replace George Moore, who had resigned from office
↑ Fredrick Struck was appointed by Governor James Gillett in June 1910 to replace David MacMullan
↑ Benjamin Reddick was appointed by Governor Goodwin Knight in August 1958 to replace Heinz Kaiser, who had died in office in July just a month after being reelected
↑ Thomas Riley was appointed by Governor Ronald Reagan in September 1974 to replace Ronald Caspers, who had died in office when his ship disappeared in June just nine days after being reelected
↑ Philip Anthony was inaugurated in November 1976 (two months early), as Robert Battin had been disqualified from office eight months before the expiration of his supervisorial term
↑ Edison Miller was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown in July 1979 to replace Ralph Diedrich, who had resigned from office
1 2 Roger Stanton was a registered Democrat during his first term as a Supervisor but was a registered Republican for his final three terms
↑ Gaddi Vasquez was appointed by Governor George Deukmejian in March 1987 to replace Bruce Nestande, who had resigned from office
↑ William Steiner was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson in March 1993 to replace Don Roth, who had resigned from office
↑ Donald Saltarelli was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson in October 1995 to replace Gaddi Vasquez, who had resigned from office
↑ Thomas Wilson was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson in December 1996 to replace Marian Bergeson, who had resigned to become State Secretary for Education
↑ Bill Campbell won a January 2003 special election to replace Todd Spitzer, who had resigned in November 2002 to take a seat in the State Assembly
↑ Janet Nguyen won a February 2007 special election to replace Lou Correa, who had resigned in December 2006 to take a seat in the State Senate
↑ John Moorlach was inaugurated in December 2006 (one month early), as Jim Silva had resigned one month before the expiration of his supervisorial term to take a seat in the State Assembly
↑ Shawn Nelson won a June 2010 special election to replace Chris Norby, who had resigned in January 2010 to take a seat in the State Assembly
↑ Andrew Do won a January 2015 special election to replace Janet Nguyen, who had resigned in December 2014 to take a seat in the State Senate
↑ Lisa Bartlett was inaugurated in December 2014 (one month early), as Patricia Bates had resigned one month before the expiration of her supervisorial term to take a seat in the State Senate
↑ Donald Wagner won a March 2019 special election to replace Todd Spitzer, who had resigned in January 2019 to become District Attorney of Orange County
↑ Katrina Foley won a March 2021 special election to replace Michelle Steel, who had resigned in January 2021 to take a seat in the United States House of Representatives
↑ The home of Katrina Foley was moved from the second district to the fifth district in redistricting
↑ Janet Nguyen was inaugurated in December 2024 (one month early), as Andrew Do had resigned two months before the expiration of his supervisorial term
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
