How much longer will Orange County remain a “red county?” According to the U.S. Census, minorities now make up the majority in Orange County.
The graphic above, courtesy of the O.C. Register, tells the story. Latinos now make up a third of Orange County residents, and Asian residents make up 16% of the residents. When you add in the “other” category, it means that minorities are now the majority in Orange County.
The recent success of Vietnamese American politicians like Supervisor Janet Nguyen and Orange County Board of Education Trustee Long Pham indicates that the earlier success of Assemblyman Van Tran was no fluke. The County’s Vietnamese American voters have become a force to be reckoned with.
But what about the County’s Latinos? They are losing seats to their Vietnamese American counterparts. Will that trend continue? I think part of the reason for this is the utter failure of the DPOC (Democratic Party of Orange County) to develop good Latino candidates in their stronghold, Central Orange County. Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido has successfully compromised every Santa Ana Council Member that gets elected. The result is a distinct lack of progressive leadership on our Council. And Latino voters can’t get excited about that.
And the fact is that too often the DPOC has recycled candidates like Tom Umberg rather than support or develop minority candidates in Central Orange County.
So the County will remain red for awhile, unless the DPOC can get it’s act together.
This year the DPOC can actually undo some of their past harm. There are a number of Latino Democrats running for office that deserve support. Let’s see if the DPOC endorses a few of them instead of backing Pulido and his allies, like RSCCD candidate Mark McLaughlin.
What about Latino Republicans? Well, there are none of any note running in Central Orange County. The cupboard is quite bare. SAUSD Trustee Rosie Avila was born in Guatemala, to German parents, so she is not exactly a Latina. And she is running for Congress against a Latina, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, on a platform of stopping gay marriage. Plus Avila is reliably anti-immigrants. She will be a very hard sell to area Latino voters.
I am running for the Santa Ana City Council as a Decline to State candidate, but I lean Libertarian. I am a social moderate and a fiscal conservative. I think that mix will appeal to area Latino voters, but I won’t be promoting either the local red or blue party. I will be promoting putting the people back in our local government. I think that is something more local candidates should do.
These new demographics do indicate that change is not just coming to Orange County, it is already here. All the more reason to improve the Santa Ana City Council and SAUSD. If we fail in Orange County’s most diverse city that failure will have major implications on the rest of the County. Perhaps it already has when you consider the growth in gang activities not just in Santa Ana but all over the County.
Overall change can be good for Orange County. We certainly have a very diverse bunch of restaurants in our County! I for one love Vietnamese food, and there are plenty of great places to get a bowl of Pho in Santa Ana and other area cities.
Some will complain about the demographics changes in Orange County. I say go for Pho and you won’t be sorry!
Yeah but we’re the primary minority.
#1,
True, but even white residents are not all that cohesive. And many Latinos are whiter than their “white” neighbors. Spain is after all part of Europe, and that Conquistador blood runs through a lot of us.
I think that the new numbers simply underscore the fast pace at which our county has changed – and because Latinos tend to have more kids they will continue to increase their numbers in this county.
This is yet another reason for the OC GOP to figure out how to work with minority voters – or face extinction…
Viva Espana!
I see both the reds and the blues at all levels building internal bulwarks to protect their status quo leadership. Look at how the GOP responded to the Ron Paul crowd. They had a candidate that raised more than several tens of millions pre-primary ($150 at a time); attracted hundreds of thousands of new registrants and dues payers to their party; came with a camp of skilled activists and leadership; appealed to young voters in droves… and they spit on him.
I supported Ron Paul because of his ideology and the attention he brought to many issues that are important to me. I stayed in the Libertarian Party the entire time. I knew what they would do to him. I long time ago, I gave on both major parties.
The GOP is stagnant, and for the same reasons illustrated by the Ron Paul example, so are the Democrats. Hitching your wagon to them means only ever being a lackey to a generationally entrenched old boy network.
I feel that they are acting like mad aristocrats on the brink of collapse, drawing up their bridges and fortifying their walls, refusing hospitality to newcomers and instead responding with paranoia and suspicion. In the mean time, small minority groups of both race and ideology are being made politically homeless.
Art, I think you represent a bold promise to your community. You are a man of reason and critcal thought and are straight forward on tough issues. You have political insight and wisdom. Everybody deserves governance by people like you.
ALIVE * FREE * HAPPY
Libertarian
AFH,
Your analysis of the red and blue parties is spot on! Never has their mutual stagnation been more self evident than this year – as both Obama and McCain thrash about each a flawed candidate to say the least.
I appreciate your kind words about my campaign. I don’t fancy myself a politician. I really did not want to run at all. But now that I am a candidate I will strive to move past the lame rhetoric coming out of City Hall. Ideas matter and hopefully the voters will concur!
The big question is: What percentage are Hispanics being Americans as to none-American.
Perceptions about Latino birth rate may be way outmoded, as are many American perceptions of the world outside the U.S. portrayed in the media. Mexico, with the world’s largest Spanish-speaking population, has experienced the world’s largest drop in birth rate, from 7.3 children per woman in 1960 to 2.1 today, about what’s necessary to maintain a stable population. Fertility varies from state to state, lowest in Mexico City, highest in impoverished rural areas. Birth rate among Latino immigrant families in the US is close to 3, consistant with most comimg from rural, less developed areas of Mexico. Google birth rate Mexico,… lot of stuff on it. My view of from inside a high school mostly of children of Latino immigrants is there isn’t any fundamental difference between them and any other all-American kids, with the exception that in Santa Ana they’re coming in from the middle schools with significantly lower academic skills — a problem we have to solve.
#7 I heard Jack O’Connell speak about the gap in scholastic achievemet between races as one of the challenges that we need to address in our education system statewide. The good news is this isn’t happening only in Santa Ana.
Certainly SAUSD is in the position to develop some innovative solutions if only the School Board could get on top of the District’s Administration and figure out how to hire workers and eliminate Administrators so there will be enough resources to actually help our students learn and achieve.
#8 One has to be cautious using terms such as “achievement gaps between races” or even “between ethnic communities” in that it can lead to misunderstanding the sources of academic problems, and consequently irrelevent solutions. Family history, family situation and community situation play a much more significant role in student achievement then ethnicity. Ethnicity has much more to do with what’s for dinner. Yes, students with Hispanic surnames are under-achieving badly, but I don’t believe it has much to do with their ethnicity, but with the history behind what drove them to leave their countries. When people point to how well Asian and middle-Eastern immigrants do academically, remember these are from the intelligentsia and upper classes of their countries fleeing lost wars and revolutions. Immigrants from Mexico and Cent.America are predominantly from the rural poor. If we were getting the upper middle class from Mexico City, we wouldn’t have these academic problems. I know, occaisionally I get a brand new student from Mexico City who speaks little English, but academically they’re well ahead of their English-speaking Hispanic peers who’ve been here for awhile.
#9, well said, I appreciate your point that its a problem that isnt simply an ethnicity or economic issue. I also appreciate that the responsibility for addressing these complex issues often falls on our classroom teachers who have little ability to address the underlying causes. This is the place that the City and the School District meet.
Fortunately in Santa Ana Councilwoman Michelle Martinez is taking an active interest in the schools. She has been a strong supporter of the school employees targeted for layoff and believes that a strong District-City approach can yield dividends for our children and our neighborhood schools.