Thank you for considering the Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC) endorsement. This is the page for June 2022 Primary election applicants. If you are looking for the November 2022 General election application process, please click here.
If you have any questions about your application or on the process, please contact ajay@ocdemocrats.org.
Qualifications
Applicants for the DPOC endorsement must meet the general qualifications for their office as listed on the OC Registrar of Voters website and must be a registered Democrat.
Offices Considered
Per DPOC bylaws, any office can be considered for endorsement after the filing period opens. The Declaration of Candidacy and Nomination period for the June 2022 primary election, commonly known as “Candidate Filing”, begins on February 14, 2022. The DPOC’s governing board, the Central Committee, can consider a race for endorsement if there hasn’t been a candidate endorsed for that race already.
The offices which may be considered for the 2022 primary election endorsement include:
- Judge of the Orange County Superior Court
- Orange County Auditor-Controller
- Orange County Clerk-Recorder
- Orange County Sheriff-Coroner
- Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector
The Democratic Party of Orange County has already endorsed for the following offices; no further applications will be taken:
- Orange County District Attorney-Public Administrator (Pete Hardin)
- Orange County Assessor (Rick Foster)
- Member, Orange County Board of Supervisors, District 2 (Vicente Sarmiento)
- Member, Orange County Board of Supervisors, District 4 (Sunny Park)
- Member, Orange County Board of Supervisors, District 5 (Katrina Foley)
- Trustee, Orange County Board of Education, District 4 (Paulette Chaffee)
- Trustee, Orange County Board of Education, District 5 (Sherine Smith)
Application Process
Applicants for the DPOC endorsement must:
- Submit the completed endorsement questionnaire at this Google Form
- Pay the $50 endorsement application fee here
The appropriate application deadlines are below:
March 16 – Application deadline for March 28 Central Committee meeting
March 28 – Central Committee meeting
April 11 – Application deadline for April 25 Central Committee meeting
April 25 – Central Committee meeting
May 9 – Application deadline for May 30 Central Committee meeting
May 23 – Central Committee meeting
After application submission, an endorsement interview will be scheduled. Applicants will also be sent a full roster of the DPOC Central Committee, to use for endorsement purposes only.
Endorsement interview committees will be made up of relevant club representatives, a Central Committee member within the geographic area of the office, a California Democratic Party Regional Director, and all 7 DPOC Officers. After interviewing all candidates for an office, the endorsement interview committee may recommend a candidate for endorsement to the full Central Committee.
The full Central Committee can vote on endorsements at the next regular meeting. Candidates are highly encouraged to attend.
Any Central Committee member may pull a candidate recommended by the endorsement interview committee from the recommendation list (“consent calendar”). If a recommendation is pulled from the consent calendar, candidates for that office will have up to 3 minutes to address the Central Committee. Candidates may choose to split up their 3 minutes between themselves and/or up to 2 other speakers.
Endorsement Finalization
Candidates for the June 2022 primary election must receive a 60% of present and eligible Central Committee members to receive the DPOC endorsement.