Foley finally got her colleagues last year to back her as vice chair\u00a0 \u2013 a position that usually precedes appointment as board chair the next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That pattern has held for many years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this year could be an exception.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OCBoardofSupervisors_May20_2025_Taylor-22.jpg\")
Supervisor Katrina Foley listens to during public comment during the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting on May 20, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC<\/p>\n
Chafee \u2013 who often clashes with Foley on the supervisors\u2019 dais \u2013 has endorsed Foley\u2019s Republican opponent in this year\u2019s upcoming county supervisors election<\/a>, Assemblywoman Diane Dixon.<\/p>\n While Chafee is a Democrat, party officials didn\u2019t endorse him in his last election.\u00a0<\/p>\n He has often voted with Republicans and while his integrity has never been questioned, he was a board ally of convicted former Republican Supervisor Andrew Do \u2013 who last summer started a five year prison stint for taking bribes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Republican operatives have told me to expect to hear a lot about Foley\u2019s inability to garner her colleagues\u2019 support in her re-election bid against Dixon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Foley\u2019s colleague, Democratic County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento told me he would support Foley based on her time on the board noting, noting \u201cit\u2019s her turn.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost boards and commissions base leadership on tenure,\u201d Sarmiento told me last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n Every other supervisor I reached out to via text is staying mum on who should be the next board chair, except Foley who said she\u2019d vote for herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the Supervisors\u2019 board chair is largely a ceremonial post, it does carry certain power as the spokesperson for the county as well as influence over setting biweekly meeting agendas and running public meetings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition, the supervisor\u2019s board chair makes the appointments to regional bodies, like the Air Quality Management District, which often carry per diem perks and in some cases like the air quality district, even a free car in the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nguyen was first elected to the board of supervisors in 2007 after a wild special election featuring a tough series of recounts that eventually put her over the top in a crowded field of candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before her first term on the OC Board of Supervisors, Nguyen<\/a> served on the Garden Grove City Council.<\/p>\n Her career is full of firsts.\u00a0<\/p>\n She\u2019s the youngest person ever elected to the county board of supervisors and the first Asian American and Vietnamese American elected to the board. During her first term on the OC Board of Supervisors, Nguyen also became the first woman to serve as vice chair and later became chair of the board in 2010.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her tenure also triggered significant controversy over her attempts to exert control over the county\u2019s health insurance plan for the poor and elderly, CalOptima.<\/p>\n Orange County\u2019s Grand Jury issued a scathing report on her influence at the agency with a\u00a0 report titled \u201dCalOptima Burns While Majority of Supervisors Fiddle<\/a>\u201d that enraged supervisors.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite the controversy, Nguyen would stay in her seat until 2014, when she was elected to the California State Senate \u2013 becoming the first Vietnamese American to do so in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n She lost her re-election bid to that seat in 2018 but later won a state assembly seat in 2020. The next year, she successfully won a state senate seat in a special election. Then, in 2024, she won election back to the county board of supervisors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While Do was a mentor of sorts for Nguyen, helping guide her through her tough special election in 2007, serving as her chief of staff and partnering with Nguyen\u2019s husband in a failed Lee\u2019s Sandwich franchise, the pair eventually became bitter political rivals after Nguyen mentored Do through his 2015 election<\/a> to succeed her as county supervisor.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do himself would go on to serve the remainder of Nguyen\u2019s term and then serve two more terms until pleading guilty to bribery charges<\/a> connected to federal COVID bailout funds in 2024 just before terming out of office.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_9263.jpeg\")
Supervisor Doug Chaffee (left), a Democrat, has drawn the ire of his own party for frequently siding with his Republican colleagues like Andrew Do (right), whom Chaffee has called his \u201cmentor.\u201d Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/148A3715.jpg\")
Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento speaks to reporters after the scheduled press conference on July 25, 2025. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC<\/p>\n