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Vicente Sarmiento

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Vicente Sarmiento
Official portrait, 2020
Member of the
Orange County Board of Supervisors
from the 2nd district
Assumed office
January 10, 2023
Preceded byKatrina Foley (redistricted)
Mayor of Santa Ana
In office
December 8, 2020 – December 13, 2022
Preceded byMiguel A. Pulido
Succeeded byValerie Amezcua
Santa Ana City Councilmember
from Ward 1
In office
January 2007 – December 8, 2020
Appointed byMiguel A. Pulido
Preceded byJose Solorio
Succeeded byThai Viet Phan
Personal details
Born
Vicente Flavio Sarmiento

(1964-05-11) May 11, 1964 (age 60)
Quime, La Paz, Bolivia
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseEva Cazas
Children
  • Adrián
  • Diego
  • Dalia
Parent(s)Vicente Sarmiento Sr.
Irma Sarmiento
EducationUniversity of California, Berkeley (BEc)
University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law (JD)
Harvard Kennedy School

Vicente Flavio Sarmiento[a] (born May 11, 1964) is a Bolivian-born American economist, lawyer, and politician serving as a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from the 2nd district since 2023. He was previously the mayor of Santa Ana from 2020 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as City Councilmember representing Ward 1 from 2007 to 2020. Hailing from Quime in Bolivia's La Paz Department, he is credited as the first-ever Bolivian American mayor in the United States.

Early life and education

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Vicente Sarmiento was born on May 11, 1964, in Quime in the Inquisivi province of La Paz, Bolivia to Vicente Sr. and his wife Irma. When he was a year old, his family emigrated to California, settling in Santa Ana where his father worked as a hotel waiter while his mother provided cleaning services.[1]

He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, where he met his wife Eva Cazas, an attorney of Mexican descent.[1] He graduated from Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science Economics before continuing his studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law where he received his Juris Doctor. After that, he completed a Certificate Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.[2]

Political career

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In 1994, Sarmiento's father introduced him to Miguel A. Pulido, whose Santa Ana mayoral campaign he worked to support. After successfully being elected, Pulido appointed Sarmiento as the city's housing development commissioner.[1] In January 2007, he was appointed to the Santa Ana City Council representing Ward 1 in order to complete the term of Jose Solorio who had been elected to the California State Assembly. The following year, he ran for a full term and was elected with 62.7% of the vote. He was reelected in 2012 and 2016.[2]

Sarmiento launched his mayoral bid in 2020, running amongst a field of five other candidates seeking to replace term-limited Mayor Pulido. His campaign ran on housing affordability and ending the city's contract with ICE.[3] In the November 3 vote, Sarmiento was elected mayor with 33% of the vote, beating out second-place Claudia Alvarez by 10,000 votes. Sarmiento's bid was largely supported by younger voters whom he credited as the reason for his electoral success. On December 8, 2020, he was inaugurated as the first new mayor of Santa Ana in 26 years.[4]

Electoral history

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2008 Santa Ana Ward 1 City Council election
CandidateVotes%
Vicente Sarmiento32,76862.70
Jim Walker19,49037.30
Total52,258100.00
Source: Orange County Elections
2012 Santa Ana Ward 1 City Council election
CandidateVotes%
Vicente Sarmiento27,28951.96
Estela Amezcua25,23048.04
Total52,519100.00
Source: Orange County Elections
2016 Santa Ana Ward 1 City Council election
CandidateVotes%
Vicente Sarmiento36,48655.56
Jessica Cha29,18344.44
Total65,669100.00
Source: Orange County Elections
2020 Santa Ana mayoral election
CandidateVotes%
Vicente Sarmiento29,49333.06
Claudia Alvarez19,24721.58
Cecilia Iglesias18,71320.98
Jose Solorio14,58516.35
George Collins5,2175.85
Mark Lopez1,9502.19
Total89,205100.00
Source: Official election results
2022 Orange County Board of Supervisors District 2 General election
CandidateVotes%
Vicente Sarmiento21,91635.05
Kim Bernice Nguyen13,92322.27
Cecilia Iglesias10,63517.01
Jon Dumitru10,32116.51
Juan Villegas5,7339.17
Total62,528100.00
Source: Official election results
2022 Orange County Board of Supervisors District 2 Runoff election
CandidateVotes%
Vicente Sarmiento48,92351.62
Kim Bernice Nguyen45,85448.38
Total94,777100.00
Source: Official election results

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ Occasionally translated "Vincent Sarmiento".

Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b c Juárez, Ivone (2020-12-16). "De Quime a Santa Ana, Vicente Sarmiento vive dos sueños americanos". Página Siete (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  2. ^ a b "Mayor Vicente Sarmiento". santa-ana.org. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  3. ^ Arellano, Gustavo (2020-11-05). "In Santa Ana mayor's race, a shot at history with a Bolivian American candidate". Los Angeles Times (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  4. ^ Cabrera, Tony (2020-11-10). "Santa Ana elects first new mayor, Vicente Sarmiento, in 26 years". KABC-TV. Retrieved 2021-11-22.