The 2026 Santa Ana mayoral election is set for November 3, 2026, featuring three distinct candidates vying for the city's top office. Incumbent Mayor Valerie Amezcua is seeking reelection, while attorney Dan Shimell and community development commissioner Dwayne Shipp are offering alternative approaches. All three candidates address concerns such as affordability, homelessness, and overall quality-of-life issues, but their platforms reveal clear distinctions regarding their primary focus for Santa Ana's future.
Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who made history in 2022 as Santa Ana’s first female mayor, is campaigning on her accomplishments during her initial term. Her background includes service on the Santa Ana Unified School District Board and more than three decades with the Orange County Probation Department, providing her with extensive experience in public safety and community intervention programs. Amezcua’s campaign centers on improving quality of life, addressing homelessness, growing the local economy, and strengthening public safety. Her campaign and city materials highlight several achievements, including reducing violent and property crime, investing in infrastructure projects, addressing homelessness through outreach and enforcement, and supporting local businesses and economic growth. In her reelection bid, Mayor Amezcua argues for continued leadership focused on safe streets, improved homelessness outcomes, economic growth, and maintaining neighborhood quality of life. Among the three candidates, Amezcua stands out for her emphasis on traditional public safety measures. Her experience in probation, gang prevention, and criminal investigations informs this focus, and she regularly highlights police-community partnerships, quality-of-life enforcement, and crime reduction efforts. Her platform is presented as directly addressing voters whose top priorities are crime reduction, homelessness enforcement, and visible public safety improvements.
Attorney Dan Shimell presents himself as a reform-minded candidate, with his platform prioritizing housing affordability, neighborhood services, and support for Santa Ana’s immigrant community. Shimell emphasizes expanding access to affordable housing, enforcing tenant protections, and streamlining approvals for affordable projects. He also advocates for policies designed to protect residents from aggressive federal immigration enforcement, making opposition to ICE raids a central component of his campaign. While Shimell discusses public safety, he frames it broadly through neighborhood investment, infrastructure, and community services, rather than through expanding law enforcement initiatives.
Dwayne Shipp, a caregiver, community organizer, and city commissioner, is campaigning on what he describes as a “community-first” approach. This approach is guided by the principles of L.O.V.E. – Listen, Opportunity, Value, and Equity. Shipp aims for every neighborhood to feel heard and represented, consistently emphasizing equitable treatment, accessibility, and responsive government services. His platform highlights youth engagement and educational opportunities, support for caregivers and seniors, community-led development initiatives, and fair and accessible city services. Public safety is included among the issues he discusses, but it is one component of a broader community-centered agenda rather than the dominant focus of his campaign.
The clearest dividing line among the candidates lies in how each defines Santa Ana’s most significant challenge. Amezcua focuses heavily on public safety, homeless outreach and enforcement, economic development, and quality-of-life improvements, asserting that her administration has achieved measurable results and that experienced leadership is necessary for continued progress. Shimell, in contrast, prioritizes housing affordability, immigrant protections, transparency, and neighborhood services, building his campaign around making government more responsive and addressing affordability pressures facing working families. Shipp focuses on community engagement, inclusion, youth opportunities, caregiver advocacy, and the equitable delivery of city services, emphasizing listening to residents and strengthening civic trust.
The 2026 Santa Ana mayoral race thus offers voters three distinct visions for the city’s future. Valerie Amezcua campaigns on her record, highlighting achievements in public safety, homelessness response, economic development, and infrastructure, and arguing for experienced leadership. Dan Shimell centers his campaign on housing affordability, immigrant advocacy, and accountable government. Dwayne Shipp offers a community-focused platform built on neighborhood engagement, opportunity, and equity. Voters whose primary concerns revolve around crime reduction, law enforcement visibility, and public safety will find Amezcua’s platform the most explicit. Those focused on housing affordability, immigration issues, or community empowerment will find alternative visions presented by Shimell and Shipp.
