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Ada Briceño just stepped down this year as Chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC) but she won’t be on the sidelines for long as she has now announced that she is running for the 67th State Assembly District, which includes portions of the cities of Fullerton, Buena Park, Cypress, Cerritos and Anaheim. The incumbent in the 67th Assembly District is Sharon Quirk-Silva a Democrat who previously served on the Fullerton City Council.
Briceño was born in Nicaragua which at the time was run by a hostile dictatorship. Briceño and her family left Nicaragua when she was seven years old as they felt their lives were threatened. Briceño has now lived in Orange County for more than 30 years and calls Cypress home.
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Briceño apparently began working at just 14 years old, which was not legal in this country, making $3 an hour to help support her family. At 18, she became a hotel desk clerk and joined a union. Today Briceño is a Unite Here Local 11 Co-President.
UNITE-HERE Local 11, representing more than 32,000 hotel workers, including hotel housekeepers and dishwashers, in Los Angeles County, Orange County and in Arizona. Briceño led a year-long hotel strike—the largest hotel strike in U.S. history.
In 2024, Briceño led the passage of Measure RW, a minimum wage increase for hundreds of low-wage workers in Long Beach. She was also instrumental in passing laws to protect workers from sexual assault and human trafficking. Under her leadership, her union helped pass funding to build thousands of new affordable housing units and protect renters from being displaced while ensuring financial accountability and transparency throughout the project.
During the COVID pandemic, when up to 90% of hospitality workers lost their jobs, Briceño was a driving force in passing state legislation sponsored by Local 11 to ensure a right for these workers to return to their jobs when the pandemic ended, saving the jobs of hundreds of thousands workers.
While the nation swung right in the 2024 elections, Ada played a critical role in securing Democratic victories in Orange County. Her efforts as Chair led to Kamala Harris winning Orange County, as well as helped Democrats win five of the six Congressional races in the area. Notably, Democrats elected Dave “DUI” Min to retain Katie Porter’s seat, and defeated Republican Michelle Steel with the election of Derek Tran.
Briceño however appears to lack any formal education. Her Facebook and Linkedin pages show zero education. Even her official bio fails to mention any education achievements.
With over $100,000 already raised to date and a formidable coalition of early endorsers pledging their support, Briceño has secured the endorsements of UNITE HERE California State Council, Congressman Derek Tran, Former Congresswoman Katie Porter, Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Rick Chavez Zbur, Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, and dozens of other state and local leaders and organizations.
Here are a few more of her decidedly liberal endorsers:
- Unite HERE California State Council
- Unite HERE Local 11
- Unite HERE Local 30
- U.S. Representative Derek Tran
- Former U.S. Representative Katie Porter
- California State Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Rick Chavez Zbur
- California State Assemblymember Liz Ortega
- California State Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo
- Former California State Assemblymember Chris Holden
- Former California State Senator Joe Dunn
- Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento
- Cypress City Councilmember Leo Medrano
- Stanton Mayor Pro Tem Donald Torres
- Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Manuel Chavez
- Santa Ana City Councilmember Jessie Lopez
- Santa Ana City Councilmember Jonathan Hernandez
- Irvine City Councilmember Kathleen Treseder
- Irvine City Councilmember Melinda Liu
- Former Irvine City Councilmember Tammy Kim
- Garden Grove City Councilmember Arianna Arestegui
- Garden Grove City Councilmember Phillip Nguyen
- Former Garden Grove City Councilmember Diedre Nguyen
- La Habra City Councilmember Daren Nigsarian
- Tustin City Councilmember Lee Fink
- Fountain Valley City Councilmember Glen Grandis
- Former Stanton Mayor Sal Sapien
- Fullerton School District Trustee Aaruni Thakur
- Fullerton School District Trustee Vanesa Estrella
- Fullerton Joint High School District Trustee Vicki Calhoun
- South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees Vice President Ryan Dack
- Fountain Valley School Board Trustee Steve Schultz
- Ocean View School District Trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin
- La Habra City School District Trustee Minerva Siguenza Gomez
- Democratic Party of Orange County Chair Florice Hoffman
- Democratic Party of Orange County Vice Chair Lauren Johnson-Norris
- Democratic Party of Orange County Vice Chair Eugene Fields
- Democratic Party of Orange County Treasurer Luis Andres Perez
- Democratic Party of Orange County Secretary Lisa Fenning
- Democratic Party of Orange County Parliamentarian Alan Fenning
- California Democratic Party Regional Director Deborah Cunningham-Skurnik
- Los Angeles City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez
- West Hollywood Mayor John Erickson
- Lynwood City Councilmember Juan Muñoz-Guevara
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