What’s at stake in this race?

The five county supervisors are among the most powerful politicians in Orange County, deciding some $11 billion in spending each year on key government services, including the sheriff’s department, disaster response and public health.

Technically, the Board of Supervisors is a nonpartisan body. But in reality, county Republicans would like to wrest control of the board from its current three-member Democratic majority. The outcome of the District 4 and 5 races — both currently represented by Democrats — could have big implications for the direction of county policy in the coming years.

The District 5 representative will also have a prominent role in overseeing the Dana Point Harbor revitalization project and efforts to shore up the crumbling south Orange County coast.

Who's running?

Democratic incumbent Katrina Foley is running to hold onto her seat representing District 5 on the Orange County Board of Supervisors against Republican challenger and California State Assembly Member Diane Dixon. (More on the candidates below.) District 5 stretches from Costa Mesa to San Clemente. It also includes parts of Irvine, Laguna Woods, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, San Juan Capistrano and unincorporated parts of the county, including Coto de Caza and Ladera Ranch.

The district leans conservative — Republicans have a five percentage point advantage in registration over Democrats (37.7% of the district's voters are registered Republican; 32.7% are registered Democrat). Another 29.4% of voters in the district are registered as No Party Preference or with a minor political party.

The candidates

Californian state assemblymember and O.C. Supervisorial candidate Diane Dixon.

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Courtesy of the campaign

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DixonforOC.com

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Diane Dixon

California State assembly member

Diane Dixon, a Republican, is a former city council member and former mayor of Newport Beach. She currently represents District 72 in the state Assembly, a seat she has held since 2022. That district overlaps significantly with the Board of Supervisors’ District 5.

Before getting into politics, Dixon was a communications executive for the multinational firm Avery Dennison. She has a reputation as a strong fiscal conservative who is also willing to reach across party lines to get legislation enacted. She is part of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in Sacramento.

In the Assembly, Dixon has pushed for harsher punishments for fentanyl dealers and more resources to prevent and treat addiction. She also helped secure funding for a trash interceptor to keep waste from washing down the San Diego Creek into Upper Newport Bay.

In the latest state legislative session, Dixon authored bills to ban piggybacking on e-bikes, criminalize private drone-flying near wildfires, and require tattoo artists to complete training on how to identify and report human trafficking, among other bills.

In her own words:

Dixon did not respond to LAist’s multiple requests for an interview or to fill out our candidate survey. If that changes, we will update this story.

More voter resources: 

• Candidate website
• Notable endorsements: Orange County Supervisors Doug Chaffee, Donald Wagner and Janet Nguyen, and the Republican Party of Orange County
• Full endorsements list here.

Katrina Foley

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Courtesy Katrina Foley

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Katrina Foley

Incumbent / business owner

Katrina Foley, a Democrat, is a former school board member, and later councilmember and mayor of Costa Mesa. She is the current vice-chair of the O.C. Board of Supervisors.

She first won a seat on the Board of Supervisors in a 2021 special election, flipping a district that had traditionally been represented by a Republican. Foley won reelection the following year against former Republican state Sen. Pat Bates — giving Democrats their first majority on the Board of Supervisors in nearly 50 years.

Foley is an attorney who started her own Newport Beach firm in 2009, specializing in employment law.

When an LAist investigation found that former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do was awarding millions in taxpayer funds to a group with ties to his own daughter, Foley was an early supporter of reforms and calls for a review of Do's actions. Foley was also the only supervisor to vote against a self-granted pay raise last year.

Recently, she called for the reinstatement of strict anti-camping rules on county-owned property in an effort to make it easier to clear homeless encampments.

After an intense pressure campaign from local environmental advocates, she spearheaded a pilot program, and then a temporary ban on using chemical pesticides to clear vegetation from San Juan and Trabuco creeks. Her showing in the primary — she won, but not by enough to avoid a runoff — has led some to believe her seat is now vulnerable to being flipped back to a Republican.

In her own words:

Earlier this year, Foley told LAist her main goal if reelected would be to develop an economic plan for the county to relieve its dependence on state and federal funding. That plan would include generating revenue, jobs and housing from county-owned properties through development agreements, she said.

Regarding affordability, Foley’s campaign told LAist via a candidate survey: “My focus is simple: Cut red tape, expand housing, support aging in place and help families build a future in Orange County.”

Foley said she would do this by streamlining regulations to speed up housing development, expanding homeownership for the middle class, investing in communities for independent seniors and prioritizing housing near jobs, transit and essential services.

Foley said via the candidate questionnaire that the most pressing priority for District 5 is “protecting our quality of life as our communities face growing pressures from wildfire risk, coastal erosion, infrastructure demands and economic change.” She promised to strengthen emergency preparedness, protect environmental resources, preserve local control and support small businesses.

Foley said she would work to bring in more sand to replenish her district’s eroding beaches.

The Dana Point project is also a priority for her district, she told LAist:

“We must move Dana Point Harbor revitalization forward as a tourism and jobs engine ahead of the 2028 Olympics, while continuing strong oversight of John Wayne Airport to support our economy and protect nearby neighborhoods and taxpayers.”

More voter resources:

• Candidate website
• Notable endorsements: Democratic Party of Orange County; California Fraternal Order of Police; Orange County Professional Firefighters Association; Orange County Labor Federation; Orange County League of Conservation Voters; Orange County Register

What does the Orange County Board of Supervisors do?

• Supervisors adopt an annual county budget and supervise departments including the Health Care Agency, Public Works and the Registrar of Voters.
• They determine policy for jails, juvenile halls, foster care and the Sheriff's Department.
• Supervisors also get appointed to serve on the governing boards of other local entities, including CalOptima, the Orange County Transportation Authority, and the Orange County Fire Authority, which provide services to residents across the county.
• It serves as the de-facto city council of unincorporated areas of the county. If you live in an unincorporated part of Orange County, such as the neighborhoods of Andora-Fairhope in Buena Park or Mac-Syracuse in Stanton, the Board of Supervisors functions essentially as your city council. That means the supervisors control local laws and oversee services for roads, law enforcement, trash pickup, and development.
• You can find a map of all the unincorporated communities here.
• It creates local laws, known as ordinances.

Here are some things the Board of Supervisors doesn't do

The supervisors have limited power in the 34 incorporated cities in Orange County, where city councils run the show. The Board of Supervisors has little say over housing and development decisions within city limits.

What’s on the agenda for next term

• The county has had to contend with major cuts by the Trump administration to healthcare, social services and housing support. Nearly 40% of Orange County’s most recent budget came from state and federal funds. (The county’s budget has also been weakened by payouts to victims of the Airport Fire and sexual harassment and retaliation claims in the District Attorney’s Office. More on that below.)
  
• The O.C. Board of Supervisors continues to grapple with the intense scrutiny that followed after LAist uncovered that former Supervisor Andrew Do was funneling millions in taxpayer dollars to family members and close associates. While Do serves time in federal prison, the county is pursuing a civil lawsuit against Do and his associates. Meanwhile, the Board of Supervisors has ordered audits to find out if the abuse went further and implemented reforms to try to prevent abuse of taxpayer funds in the future. Some have also questioned whether those reforms go far enough.
  
• The county is also in the middle of a tense legal battle with Mind OC, once its main mental health partner. The county wants to break its lease with Mind OC to operate the Be Well Orange mental health campus, accusing the organization of squandering $60 million in public funds. Meanwhile, Mind OC has launched a public relations offensive that paints the county as standing in the way of residents’ access to top-quality mental health care.
  
• The county has had to pay out millions in damages to victims of the 2024 Airport Fire, which was started by county Public Works employees. There still are outstanding claims. Last year, the county added approximately $400 million to its insurance fund to cover potential new payouts to fire victims. The county is facing a $32 million lawsuit from the state wildlands firefighting agency, CalFire, which seeks to recover its costs for fighting the Airport Fire.
  
• The county also is in the midst of settling claims of sexual harassment and retaliation in the District Attorney’s Office filed by former prosecutors and investigators.
  
• The aging Dana Point Harbor is in the midst of a major renovation, including a refurbished marina, two new hotels, and new commercial space. The harbor is owned by the county so the Board of Supervisors has a major supervisory role in the public-private project.

Follow the money

We will have more information on campaign financing as we get closer to Election Day.

Here is campaign finance data from the primary held earlier this year. Shaw and Traut were the top two vote-getters, forcing the upcoming Nov. 3 election.

How to get involved

• The Orange County Board of Supervisors meets on alternating Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. at 400 W. Civic Center Drive, Santa Ana. You can check out the O.C. Board of Supervisors full calendar here.
• Learn how to submit a public comment to the O.C. Board of Supervisors.