SANTA ANA — Andrew Do narrowly won the race for the 1st District seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.
With all ballots from the Jan. 27 election finally counted, Do had 18,905 votes (39.1 percent) to Lou Correa’s 18,862 (39.0 percent) — a difference of 43 votes — as of Monday.
Do was chief of staff to former Supervisor Janet Nguyen and Correa is a former state senator.
Correa told City News Service on Monday that he is considering whether to seek a recount. However, the swearing-in ceremony will take place as scheduled on Tuesday morning at the Old Orange County Courthouse.
The other candidates were far behind — Garden Grove City Councilmember Chris Phan with 7,857 (16.3 percent), TV news anchor Chuyen Van Nguyen with 1,879 (3.9 percent) and Lupe Morfin-Moreno of the Orange County Health Care Agency with 834 (1.7 percent).
A total of 48,626 ballots were cast, a 22.6 percent voter turnout rate.
Do will succeed Janet Nguyen, who was elected to the State Senate in November, and the five-member Board of Supervisors will have an Asian American majority for the first time. Supervisor Michelle Steel is Korean American and Supervisor Lisa Bartlett is Japanese American.
In addition to Nguyen and Steel, Do’s endorsers included Reps. Mimi Walters, Ed Royce and Dana Rohrabacher; State Sen. Pat Bates; Assemblymembers Young Kim, Travis Allen, Matthew Harper and Don Wagner; the Orange County Republican Party and the California Republican Party.
“Orange County is facing a lot of change,” Steel, previously a member of the state Board of Equalization, said during the campaign. “To keep the county moving in the right direction we are going to need leaders who will represent the people and their values. We need Andrew Do on the Board of Supervisors. Andrew Do has the qualifications and the drive to be a great representative. He knows the issues facing his community and he knows how to lead.”
Do said that his priorities will be to help create jobs, assist small business, rebuild the local economy, and improve roads, parks and other infrastructure. In light of state-mandated prisoner early releases, he said will make public safety one of his top priorities. He opposes tax increases and strongly supports Proposition 13.
Do is a central county businessman and attorney who has served as an Orange County deputy district attorney and a member of the Garden Grove City Council. He has been president of the Asian Bar of California and the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Southern California, and was selected by the U.S. Department of Justice to represent Orange County at the National District Attorney Association Advocacy College at the University of South Carolina.
Do received his J.D. degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He taught for three years as an adjunct professor at CSU Fullerton and served as a judge pro tem at Orange County West. He is married to Orange County Superior Court Judge Cheri Pham.
The 1st District includes the cities of Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Westminster and Santa Ana as well as the unincorporated community of Midway City.