Strickland – Pham – Diep – Briscoe
So, IF you hadn’t heard. The special election in State Senate District 36 – to take Janet Nguyen’s place now that she’s back on the Board of Supervisors – is scheduled:
- Primary Election Feb. 25 (meaning early voting will start very soon)
- General Election – which won’t happen if one candidate breaks 50% in the primary – April 29.
So, next:
- Q: Are you in SD 36?
- A: PROBABLY, just looking at how HUGE it is!
Senate District 36, dominated as it is by Little Saigon and Huntington/Newport, stretches all the way from San Clemente to Hawaiian Gardens (or vice-versa.) In case you never noticed, California’s State Senate districts are even bigger than our Congressional Districts, because we have 40 of one, 52 of the other. (Check your district HERE.)
Republicans enjoy a 3-point advantage here (37.11% R to 33.93% D) although like the rest of OC the district rejected Trump thrice. [Correction – the district went for Trump THIS TIME, unlike the rest of OC.] And given how much more disciplined Republicans are than Democrats at voting in special elections, the anointed Republican certainly has the advantage here, and here’s introducing the Anointed Republican:
Tony Strickland, who does not deserve this seat.
The tallest and tubbiest member of Huntington Beach’s klepto-Trumpy Council, Strickland (who is younger than he looks at 54) is a California career politician who has held office all over the state – he’s even been a state senator before, back in ’08, representing up in the 805 (Ventura, Santa Barbara.) He was the first to announce for this race and has all the institutional Republican support, including that of mutual fan Janet Nguyen whose backing will be invaluable in the Little Saigon towns.
You almost want to throw up your hands and say, as one wag did last month, “At least he won’t be able to do much in the super-minority except maybe wave around some gavel with his belly bulging.” And if he breaks 50% next month at least we’ll save money not having an April special election (we’re still trying to figure out how many millions of dollars Janet Nguyen has cost taxpayers in special elections through the course of her whimsical and sleazy career.)
PERO NO! This cat doesn’t DESERVE another term in the state senate, it would just be WRONG. Read his Wikipedia page, it is like a catalogue of ethical violations, a tour de force of decades of campaign sleaze, and yet it is still incomplete. Shortly after his 2016 conviction for money laundering, this blog caught him running an attack IE for the benefit of Harry Sidhu‘s assembly campaign. Ah, Sidhu & Strickland = kindred spirits from the kleptocratic wing of the OCGOP!
For his entire life he has done nothing but run for and hold political offices, yet he occasionally likes to pretend to be some kind of “businessman” until he gets called on it. He has been a fervent supporter of Donald Trump from the beginning, a Trump delegate in the 2016 Republican National Convention, and California Chairman of a Trump SuperPAC.
However this slob ended up in Surf City (and of course running for office there) he and his second wife live in a “state-mandated affordable housing unit,” from which he fights tirelessly against state-mandated affordable housing, and against anyone else besides him and his second wife getting such a place. And obviously Tony has been right at the center of HB’s biggest scandal in decades, the $40 million Pacific Air Show giveaway.
You might say, cynically, that this sounds like the perfect politician to take Janet Nguyen’s place, but come on – can’t SD 36 do better than Tony Strickland? Can’t the Republican Party even do better than Tony Strickland? If a Democrat is going to beat a white Republican in this Little Saigon-dominated district, it stands to reason a Vietnamese American would have the best chance, and that’s what two of them must have been thinking…
Jimmy Pham
Jimmy I assume has the best name recognition of these three “challengers,” having just run for Assembly in Little Saigon against Tri Ta, getting nearly 80k votes to Tri’s 96k. (45.3% to 54.7%). That’s not so bad. If everyone who voted Jimmy for Assembly came out to vote for him again next month, he might could win. Best of all Jimmy is an immigration attorney – I like the idea of an immigration attorney winning a political race right now! Here is Jimmy’s website; if I lived there I’d be backing him.
Julie Diep
Also checking off the Viet box is a Garden Grove speech pathologist name of Julie Diep, who JUST TWO MONTHS AGO won herself a seat on the Anaheim Elementary School Board, beating my friend Matt Mariscal 61-39. Hey – this doesn’t look like someone who cares much about their new post on the school board so much! (Maybe you-all shoulda voted for Matt.) Julie does not have a webpage but she does do INSTAGRAM, which is where I found this photo. All I’m saying. But welcome to the club of keeping Tony Strickland under 50% next month, Julie!
John Briscoe.
Last of all, the Maverick Republican himself. And the king of perennial candidates. This cat has run for more offices than Strickland, Pham & Diep combined, easily. Dozens. I did have fun hanging out with him once. “Eccentric” is too perfect a description. He taught us to pay fines that you disagree with, with bags of pennies. He did serve a couple of good terms on the Ocean View School Board, where he had such a close alliance with progressive firebrand Gina Clayton Tarvin that HB Republicans will never forgive him. And yet, he has some extreme out-there rightwing positions that Democrat voters could never accept. Still, if he can add the 5000 votes he got in November to the ones Strickland won’t be getting next month, then he is also welcome to the club.
So there you have it. All the news that’s fit to print about this race right now. Vern out.
PS. What if Strickland wins?
Then the Surf City klepto-MAGAts can appoint another one of their own to fill Tony’s vacancy. Hell, maybe they can drag that snowflake Tito Ortiz back from Florida. Make him Mayor. Make the HB Clown Show truly complete.
I care about the state of CA – Not the state of Newscum. Any Money spent on de-Trumping the state is Illegal and a huge waste of money. I’m a Democrat that knows that NewSCUM should be in jail for fraud and Tax Evasion. Vote Tony!!!!!
Hey, a new Democrat in the comments! Cool. (After Managing Editor’s review of your comment): Or … “cool”?
I’ve been critical of Newsom in the past, though I’ve appreciated him much more this past month. So answer these questions so that people can better understand what a pro-Strickland Democrat is like:
(1) What do you mean by “de-Trumping” the state? Does this imply that we were Trump to begin with?
(2) What would whatever “de-Trumping” is be illegal?
(3) Why, according to you, should Newsom be in jail for fraud?
(4) Why, according to you, should Newsom be in jail for tax evasion?
(5) Tell us what prominent Democratic candidates you, as a Democrat, have supported in recent past elections. Don’t go back before 1964.
Looking forward to your answers! They don’t have to be ones I agree with; they just have to be cogent.
Richard Timothy Crickets more like.
Hey, I’m having a polite conversation with one of out readers. Negative six-Sigmas have their place too!
I knew it – Democrats suck at special elections, and Senate staff may as well start looking for those old Strickland name plates. Laura Robinson Oatman posts:
INSTANT ACTION ALERT!!!
As many of you know, we have a Special Election coming up, TOMORROW, February 25th. The seat became vacant on December 2, 2024, when Janet Nguyen (Republican) resigned following her election to the Orange County Board of Supervisors. The front runner is a MAGA Republican, Tony Strickland, an HB City Council member and former HB Mayor.
As of today, Republicans are winning.
Ballots that have been returned so far:
Rep- 42,475
Dem- 29,775
NPP- 12,404
We really need to make sure Strickland does not get 50% plus one of the Primary Election vote, or we lose the election outright.
If any one candidate receives over 50% of the vote, they win, and there will be no General Election. If no candidate receives over 50% of the vote, we will have a General Election on April 29, 2025. The top two vote getters from the Primary will be on the ballot in the General Election (regardless of party affiliation).
This means we can’t split the votes between the two Democratic candidates.
The most viable Democratic candidate is Jimmy Pham. He is an attorney, who has been endorsed by Congressman Dave Min, the former and the current Chairs of the Democratic Party of Orange County. During his run for AD, he was endorsed by Planned Parenthood & Everytown for Gun Safety,. He has been vetted.
Your help is needed this weekend to help get out the vote. Please volunteer to knock or drop literature, or make phone calls by contacting the Newport Beach Women’s Democratic Club or the Laguna Beach Democratic club. Both have GOTV (Get Out The Vote) actions for you to take.
PLEASE LOOK FOR THAT “SPECIAL ELECTION” BALLOT, FILL IT OUT (TAKES ABOUT 1 MIN OF YOUR TIME), SIGN THE ENVELOPE, AND DROP INTO A DROP BOX NEAR YOU TODAY!!!
(PS I don’t get or agree with the “danger” of splitting the D vote; the only concern is still to keep Tony under 50%, doesn’t matter if the runner-up gets 49 or 20 in the primary)
This calls to mind a song by The Clash:
Did Florice come lookin’ for Jimmy Pham?
‘Cause she’s not here and it sure looks bad
Ohhhhhhhhhh, Jimmy Pham
For readers’ reference:
Ah, THIS was one of my comments from last week that got lost:
The Register very reluctantly, after bemoaning the lack of good choices, endorsed Strickland in this race. “We remember a time when an open state Senate seat would draw top-caliber candidates, but apparently that’s not always the case,” the sad editorial board begins.
https://www.ocregister.com/2025/02/12/endorsement-tony-strickland-in-californias-36th-senate-district/
From their Strickland endorsement: “…in his recent terms as Huntington Beach councilmember and mayor Strickland has specialized in high-profile MAGA issues rather than the nuts-and-bolts of governing. He was the ringleader for costly, misguided lawsuits against the state and a champion of NIMBY-style anti-housing efforts. He’s also overly friendly with public-sector unions.”
(Sounding a lot like his friend Harry Sidhu, in both the Trump love and the Union love. AND their crooked politics getting them both in legal hot water.)
So, why don’t the Register endorse Jimmy Pham? What’s their problem with Pham? Well, they say, Jimmy has “promised to introduce legislation that would cap the number of institutional investors in rental properties.”
That actually sounds like a good idea. VOTE PHAM!!!
Follow the results here… so far it looks like this WILL go on to April Strickland vs. Pham!
https://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2025/02/strickland-watch-will-the-tall-tubby-magat-beat-50-or-have-to-go-on-to-april/
Who can keep Strickland under 50%? – Only that nitwit John Briscoe.
hmmm… yeah that is one way to look at it, LOL! Maybe.
I’m not sure who the Briscoe voters are. But maybe they are NOT people who would just vote for any old Republican. Maybe they really DON’T LIKE STRICKLAND.