After great midterm, O.C. Dems elect new party leader for 2020
Fresh on the heels of an election that swept Republicans from federal power in Orange County, local Democrats elected a new leader Monday night.
Hotel employee union leader Ada Briceño, 46, a Stanton resident, took the reins as chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, becoming the first Latinx woman to win the post. Briceño ran unopposed after the most recent chair, Fran Sdao, stepped down.
Briceño spoke with the Orange County Register about her plans for the party.
Q: Why do you want to lead the county party?
Briceño: It’s a very exciting time, and it’s the work that I love already. I’ve been an activist and an organizer on the ground for a long time. During the past two years, I’ve seen this blossoming of communities and activism and leadership. I want to offer my experience in union leadership to the party, and to grow from what the party has already been doing and fortify that.
There are a bunch of folks that don’t participate (in politics) and many of them look like me. I think having someone like myself will invite other Latinos and other people of color to participate. We need to open the door wider, to make sure they know we’re the party that cares about the middle class and working class, to connect with the issues they believe in.
Q: How did you become a union leader?
Briceño: I came here with my parents when I was 6 years old from Nicaragua, fleeing a dictator and a civil war. I had to start working in the hotel industry at age 16 to help my family. A year later, I got a union job as a front desk clerk, where I made a couple more dollars per hour. And, for the first time ever, I was able to get glasses and medical insurance. I was sold on unions. I became the leader of workers in that hotel quickly, and (at 18) I got recruited to the hotel workers’ union. Over the next eight years, I held every position in the union. At age 26, I became the first Latina to be leader of my local (Unite Here Local union branch). I began working on the ground with communities to lift the voices of the disenfranchised. I’ve been doing that (since).
Q: What are your goals as chair?
Briceño: We have a very exciting 3rd District supervisors race around the corner (on March 12) – and we need to get our second Democrat on the Board of Supervisors. We want to do outreach to all the groups that helped turn Orange County blue, and we need to make sure that goes to the county supervisor level, city council level, and school board. That’s where the rubber meets the road. Building our bench is important, and we need to find Democratic candidates to run in those places.
The other focus is that we need to take our state Senate seat back – the Josh Newman seat. That’s a priority for us.
Q: Any cities or populations where Democrats see an opportunity?
Briceño: There are diverse cities we should be looking at where we need to grow our Democrats, Anaheim being one of them. Costa Mesa did really well and we want to follow that model throughout other cities. (Editor’s note: Democrats took control of the Costa Mesa City Council in the 2018 election.) Fullerton is also looking great for us right now, so we’re going to focus on that.
And then obviously reaching out to the immigrant community – specifically the Latino and Vietnamese communities. It’s disheartening to see Trump’s move to want to deport some of the Vietnamese refugees, so it’s something we have to keep making sure that we’re knocking on doors, asking what issues are important to them, and making them enamored with what our party’s about.
Q: What’s the game plan for 2020?
Briceño: The electorate is changing, and we’ve got to take advantage of that. We are going to continue to look at registration and really hustle. (Editor’s note: Democrats trailed Republicans in voter registration by less than 1 percentage point on Tuesday.)
Growing our base of volunteers is crucial. We have to be able to train them in larger numbers, continuing to build on what Fran had done. A great number of people voted this past election. Moving forward, our turnout has to always be this large, because elections matter. The goal here is to get stronger and stronger.