{"id":492715,"date":"2026-10-11T15:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T15:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/492715\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T15:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T15:34:08","slug":"two-candidates-rematch-for-garden-grove-mayor-seat-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/492715\/","title":{"rendered":"Two candidates rematch for Garden Grove mayor seat \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

The two candidates vying for the Garden Grove<\/a> mayor seat both said further steps need to be taken to hold GKN Aerospace accountable for the chemical threat that evacuated thousands of residents earlier this year; they also agreed on some basic issues: neighborhoods need to be safe and affordable and business growth should tend to the city\u2019s diverse communities.<\/p>\n

But candidates Stephanie Klopfenstein<\/a> and Thu-Ha Nguyen<\/a> differ in their plans to remedy the issues and in their priorities for leading the county\u2019s fifth-largest city.<\/p>\n

Incumbent Klopfenstein and Nguyen, a clinical scientist, are facing off in a bid for a two-year term as Garden Grove\u2019s top elected official; the two ran for the same position in the 2024 general election.<\/p>\n

The winner will take office in December, shepherding the council through decisions on tourism developments, new housing and addressing lingering community concerns surrounding safety and transparency regarding the GKN plant, at which the company said it plans to restart full operations in the coming weeks.<\/a><\/p>\n

Both candidates, who were interviewed and provided written answers to questions, said they want accountability from the company at the center of the Memorial Day weekend chemical scare that triggered a large-scale emergency response and evacuation orders for some 50,000 area residents.<\/p>\n

Klopfenstein, who served as councilmember for two terms between 2016 and 2024 before being elected mayor, said she has \u201cdemanded accountability from GKN on the chemical tank crisis,\u201d adding the company is \u201cnow paying $100 million to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

GKN Aerospace, one of the world\u2019s leading manufacturers of civil and military aircraft parts, announced the claims program<\/a> in August in conjunction with the OC District Attorney\u2019s Office, which launched a criminal probe into the company that ended without charges. The program, also demanded by city leaders, is intended to help residents and local businesses who were forced to evacuate in May recoup financial losses. The company has said the program is expected to go live this month.<\/p>\n

Community members and advocacy groups, for months, have packed Garden Grove\u2019s city chambers<\/a>, asking their elected officials to impose tighter controls on the plant or to even shut down the facility and for a moratorium, or pause, on new or expanding military manufacturing facilities.<\/p>\n

Klopfenstein said the findings of an \u201cafter action report\u201d underway would govern her next steps.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to see all of it in its entirety, not only what GKN\u2019s doing,\u201d Klopfenstein said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing as a city, what OCFA has done, what all these agency partners have done, so that I can see the full depth and breadth of this situation from start to finish, instead of just feeding little chunks of information at a time to piece it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nguyen, who has previously served terms on the council representing District 3, said working in the medical field, \u201cI deal with a lot of chemicals and we do have regulations and guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

She suggested frequent inspections of the Garden Grove facility and passing a new law, inspired by one recently passed in Irvine, that requires businesses operating with toxic chemicals to notify nearby residents and new zoning restrictions for future businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very easy to say, \u2018I want to shut them down,\u2019 but they\u2019re a big, big business and the amount of employees they have is not small. Not a solution,\u201d Nguyen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause, going back to the local economy and jobs,\u201d she said, \u201cthere\u2019s 500 families\u2019 lives on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both candidates said they\u2019d support business growth in the city, with Nguyen proposing to streamline permitting processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must also grow our revenue responsibly by supporting existing businesses, attracting new investment, and removing unnecessary barriers to doing business in Garden Grove,\u201d Nguyen said, adding that new businesses in cultural hubs, such as Little Saigon and Koreatown, should preserve the areas\u2019 identity.<\/p>\n

Nguyen also champions making City Hall \u201caccessible\u201d to residents by expanding \u201coptions for participating in council meetings\u201d and language assistance based on the needs of Garden Grove\u2019s diverse communities.<\/p>\n

Klopfenstein said she is \u201cvery much a pro small business, pro business mayor, and council person\u201d and welcomes \u201cthe conversations and ideas of our community and want to support our residents and business owners that truly are the backbone of Garden Grove.\u201d She highlighted investments along the Harbor Boulevard corridor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to really know and invest a lot of time out there. And so I want to see these hotel projects move forward. I think it\u2019s good for our city, it\u2019s good for our local economy, and we need to be able to share those opportunities as we sit, basically, at the doorstep of a business,\u201d Klopfenstein said, referring to the Nickelodeon-themed resort<\/a> that is again making its way through City Hall for approval after years of legal delays and environmental reviews.<\/p>\n

Bolstering businesses, Klopfenstein said, could involve leveraging Garden Grove\u2019s proximity to the Disneyland Resort area \u2014\u00a0 the city recently launched a shuttle system connecting local hotels to the tourism hub.<\/p>\n

Both candidates agree on lifting Little Saigon as a tourism destination and supporting its hundreds of small businesses. The city is in the early stages of a partnership with Fountain Valley and Santa Ana to promote and revitalize the business core of Little Saigon<\/a>, home to the largest population of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam.<\/p>\n

Building new in an aging city, including adding additional homes to meet state housing mandates, would require the city pay attention to its infrastructure, both candidates said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that be streets and roads or storm drains, all of that is extremely important and putting an emphasis on capital improvement projects, you can\u2019t let that stuff sit and get behind on that too much,\u201d Klopfenstein said. If elected for a second term as mayor, Klopfenstein said she\u2019d improve the city\u2019s green spaces by polishing existing parks and adding trees.<\/p>\n

Nguyen said infrastructure improvements should be \u201cstep by step.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo improve the city, you cannot just do patching,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to focus on improving one street, on one area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nguyen also proposed streamlining permitting processes to boost ADU development to help add to the housing stock.<\/p>\n

Naming what they see as top priorities for their city, Nguyen said, \u201cKeeping our families safe must be Garden Grove\u2019s highest priority. Public safety means supporting our police officers and firefighters, strengthening neighborhood safety, and preventing emergencies before they happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klopfenstein named \u201chomelessness\u201d as one and mentioned steps taken in previous years to address the issue, including the recently adopted Homeless Strategic Plan and a tri-city effort to open the Central Cities Navigation Center, a transitional housing and support facility that added 85 beds in an industrial sect along West Street.<\/p>\n

The mayor of Garden Grove is paid an monthly stipend of $1,512 a month<\/a>, $200 more than what councilmembers are allotted, and not including pension contributions and health, dental and vision benefits.<\/p>\n

Ballots may be returned by mail (must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and received within a week of Election Day) or to the OC Registrar of Voters\u2019 drop boxes around town now, and the first vote centers will open for casting ballots in person on Oct. 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The two candidates vying for the Garden Grove mayor seat both said further steps need to be taken…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,7,204,11078,1071,100,611,8047,13,136],"class_list":["post-492715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-election","tag-garden-grove","tag-local-government","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-elections","tag-politics","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}