2 weeks Ago
In the seven-person race to become Garden Grove’s next mayor , Councilmember Stephanie Klopfenstein is the frontrunner. Klopfenstein has garnered more than 27% of the votes counted, as of Wednesday night. She’s up almost four percentage points — more than 1,600 votes — over former councilmember Diedre Thu-Ha Nguyen.
The new mayor will replace Steve Jones, who could not run again due to term limits for leading on the dais. He’s been the mayor since 2016. Klopfenstein joined the City Council in 2016, she represents District 5.
Her connection to the city goes back much further. Klopfenstein’s family has roots in Garden Grove tracing back to the town’s beginnings in the late 1800s. She graduated from Garden Grove schools and her daughter is a fifth-generation Garden Grove Unified student, she said.
Klopfenstein worked in radio broadcasting before joining the council. She also serves as a board member for both the Orange County Transportation Authority and the OC Sanitation District, and she’s president of the Association of California Cities, Orange County, a regional policy nonprofit comprised of leaders from local city governments and non-governmental organizations. “My years of experience on the council and working in the community have helped prepare me to lead as mayor,” Klopfenstein told the Register in an election questionnaire .
“I also believe my regional leadership, policy experience and legislative work make me a well-rounded candidate.” Klopfenstein campaigned on a platform committed to funding the police, fiscal responsibility and addressing homelessness “with both services and enforcement.” “Since I joined the council in 2016, one of the top priorities facing our city has been homelessness,” she said.
“I am proud that we have addressed this issue head-on in Garden Grove with a forward-thinking, comprehensive and strategic plan. This plan provides emergency housing, rental assistance, supportive services, medical/mental health services and more. We have a strong partnership with our Garden Grove Police Department Special Resource Team, Be Well OC and CalOptima Street Medicine Program, and we opened our Central Cities Navigation Center in June on time and on budget.
I look forward to addressing other top issues in our city with the same creative solutions and tenacity.” Garden Grove voters also are electing a new District 5 representative and councilmembers for Districts 2 and 6, as well. Yesenia Muneton , a substitute teacher, has a sizeable advantage in District 5.
She has collected 48.7% of the vote compared to 39% for Sandy L. Thomas and 12.
2% for Mariyan Bahadarakhann. The District 5 seat represents residents who live in the eastern part of Garden Grove, generally bounded by Orangewood Avenue on the north, Euclid Street on the west, Garden Grove Boulevard on the south and a small section that stretches east to Westminster Boulevard and Haster Street. In District 2, Phillip Nguyen comfortably leads his head-to-head race versus John Ramirez: 4,286 votes to 3,364 votes.
Nguyen runs a tax preparation business. The northern section of Garden Grove, centered along Brookhurst Street, south to about Chapman Avenue, makes up District 2. In District 6, which includes the city’s eastern neighborhoods, Tri Lam leads Ariana Arestegui: 2,291 votes to 2,077 votes.
Lam is a U.S. Army veteran and biomedical operation manager at a medical device company.
The Registrar of Voters said results will be updated daily at 5 p.m., except on weekends, until the counting is complete.
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