In Irvine, the mayor is an at-large member of the city council, which means they represent the city as a whole, while the other six council members represent specific districts.
The city’s current mayor is Farrah N. Khan, who has been in office since 2020. She was the first woman of color to hold the position and the first Muslim woman to lead a large city in the U.S., according to the city’s website. Khan ran for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors earlier this year, but did not garner enough votes to advance to the general election.
What does the mayor do?
Their main responsibilities are presiding over council meetings, signing official documents and performing ceremonial functions. Along with other councilmembers they also:
- Vote for or against city ordinances
- Adopt annual budgets for commissions, committees and agencies
- Establish city policies
- Approve or deny the zoning and development of land
- Hire the city manager and appoint certain city officials
Make It Make Sense: Election 2024 Edition
Fast facts about the Irvine mayor’s office
- Mayors serve a two-year term; the city has a two consecutive term limit for all elected officials.
- All Irvine mayors run as nonpartisan candidates, but it’s fairly easy to figure out where they lie on the political spectrum based on their voting records and key campaign issues.
- The salary for Irvine mayor is $10,560 per year, not including benefits. You can see more compensation figures for city employees here.
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City of Santa Ana
- Mayor and city council. Plus: Noncitizen voting, rent control and pay raises for city councilmembers
City of Irvine
- Mayor and city council
Orange County
- Board of Supervisors: Who will replace outgoing District 1 Supervisor Andrew Do?
- School district measures: School districts have a lot of repair needs.
State and federal races
- Whoa! There are 10 state-wide initiatives on the ballot. Here's your cheat sheet to Props. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36.
- Orange County races for California State Assembly and State Senate
- House and U.S. Senate
Jump to the full Voter Game Plan for dozens more races ▶
What’s on the agenda for next term
- The Gateway Preserve: In March, city council members voted to move forward with a plan to convert an old asphalt factory into a nature preserve surrounded by over 1,200 new homes. The city bought the asphalt plant after years of complaints from nearby homeowners about fumes. The city plans to turn the land plot into miles of hiking trails with a potential visitor center.
- Affordable Housing: In a recent UC Irvine poll, over a third of respondents said they were considering leaving Orange County for a variety of reasons; but the biggest was the high cost of housing. Rent has been on the rise in Orange County and Irvine is one of the pricier areas, with the average one-bedroom apartment going for over $2,500 per month. This is sure to be a hot button issue for the next mayor and council as they consider future land zoning and development.
- Corruption: A recent federal corruption investigation, which looked into reports that Disneyland had an outsized influence on Anaheim’s city policy, also found that Irvine had failed to disclose all of the lobbyist work going on at city hall. In 2023, Melahat Rafiei, a former aide to Mayor Khan pleaded guilty to wire fraud and admitted that she had tried to bribe city council members. Needless to say, tightening lobbying regulations will certainly be a focus for the next mayoral term.
Meet the candidates
Candidates are listed here in the order that they appear on the ballot.
Felipe Delgado
Automation Project Manager
Delgado has been working as a project manager at Fluor, an engineering and construction company, for 45 years. He moved to Irvine in 1969 and has children who have attended Irvine public schools.
Delgado believes that Irvine’s population and economic growth have led to an increase in traffic and crime, and a decrease in the overall quality of life for its residents. As mayor, he says he would improve transportation infrastructure, policing and schools. "Over the decades, the city appears to have strayed from the balance of growth and quality of life," Delgado said in his official candidate statement. "The city’s economic and population growth contributed to the increased traffic, crime, and deteriorated the quality of resident experience. ... A vote for me will help keep Irvine on track with the vision in the Master Plan and continue a great future for Irvine."
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Some candidates did not reply to our requests for images. Some do not have a campaign website and/or list of endorsements available online at the time of publication. We will update this guide as more candidate information becomes available.
More voter resources:
- Website: FelipeDelgado4IrvineMayor.com
- Endorsements: See full list here
- Official candidate statement
Larry Agran
Irvine City Councilmember / Vice Mayor
Agran was last elected to the Irvine city council in 2022. He currently holds the position of Vice Mayor. But this certainly isn’t Agran’s first rodeo in Irvine politics. If he wins, this will be his sixth non-consecutive term as mayor. At one point, he also resigned, temporarily, from the Irvine City Council to sidestep term limit rules.
During his mayoral terms, the city pioneered programs in child care, affordable housing, recycling and open space preservation, according to the city’s website. As a private policy expert and public interest attorney, he led several non-profits organizations and was especially active in creating the Orange County Great Park on the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.
His official candidate statement lays out some of his goals if reelected: "We must combat climate change by expanding Irvine's rooftop solar program, planting another 200,000 trees, and transitioning to greener transportation. We must reject massive warehouses in residential areas and wild schemes to cram 57,000 additional houses and apartments into Irvine. We must increase investments in public safety, childcare programs, school nurses, and school bus transportation. I don't accept money from big corporations and out-of-town special interests trying to control our City Council."
More voter resources:
- Website: LarryAgran.com
- Endorsements: See full list here
- Official candidate statement
Wing Chow
Retired CPA
In his long career, Chow has worked as a consultant, auditor, corporate controller and CPA. He is currently “doing charity work with a non-profit organization for the city of Irvine,” he says on his LinkedIn page and decided to run for mayor because he wants to give back to the city he has lived in since 1985. He has two children who went to local high schools.
In his official candidate statement, Chow says as mayor he would create new opportunities for Irvine businesses, create programs to support the elderly and make Irvine a “safe, happy and prosperous city.” There isn’t much additional public information about Chow, as he doesn’t appear to have a campaign website.
More voter resources
Akshat “AB” Bhatia
Realtor / Entrepreneur
Bhatia is an Orange County realtor and entrepreneur who lives in Irvine with his wife and two children. “I see myself as a true American living the American Dream,” he writes on his campaign website, “and want to serve the city I love most.”
His top issues include expanding green spaces, using “smart technology” to make the city more efficient, improving neighborhood safety, supporting local businesses and making Irvine more family friendly. Bhatia also feels strongly about parental rights when it comes to gender identity in schools and opposes Assembly Bill 1955, which prohibits school district employees from disclosing any information related to a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity to any other person (including their parents) without the student’s consent. Bhatia did not submit an official statement for the ballot.
More voter resources:
- Website: ABForThePeople.com
Tammy Kim
Irvine Councilmember / Educator
Kim is a former corporate executive who has served on the Irvine city council since 2020. She is the first Korean-American woman elected to the council and received the highest vote count for any city council candidate in Irvine's history, according to the city website. She also started the Korean American Center in Irvine, a non-profit that supports Korean language and culture education, as well as the local community.
As a council member, she focuses on public safety, economic growth and sustainability for the city. She’s particularly interested in growing Irvine’s tech community by working to further establish the city as a top location for startups. Kim has also been active in the plan for Great Park’s development after what she describes as “decades of mismanagement and delays.”
As mayor, she says she will combat crime and keep neighborhoods safer, create more housing for all income levels, improve traffic with new transportation infrastructure, and continue to advocate for the Great Park, “ensuring it becomes the landmark our community deserves.”
More voter resources:
- Website: TammyKim.com
- Endorsements: See full list here
- Official candidate statement
Ron Scolesdang
Irvine business owner
Scolesdang is a professional Muay Thai fighter, a career which he says “taught him the value of discipline, strategic thinking, and perseverance." He owns several (mostly) related small businesses in the city, including CryoSpot, Lace N Loop, KO Towing and Oka Kickboxing Club. He also founded a non-profit organization called Seniors Fight Back, where he uses his martial arts experience to teach self-defense classes to elderly people, who he says are often victims of violence and discrimination, especially in the Asian American community.
Scolesdang has lived in Irvine for 10 years with his wife and son and is proud of his and his wife’s Vietnamese Filipino family.
As mayor, he says he will prioritize lowering crime rates, protecting seniors, improving road safety, and advocating for full transparency in the city council. “I am sick of superficial politicians making deceitful policy changes for self-serving interests,” he says on his campaign website.
More voter resources:
Lee Sun
Irvine Finance Commissioner
Sun is an engineer, business executive and attorney who has served on the Irvine City Investment Advisory Committee and Finance Commission for the past six years. He also sits on the boards of several non-profits and was previously the president of the Asian American Advocacy Alliance. He and his wife have four children and have lived in Irvine for 22 years.
As mayor, Sun says he will increase oversight of the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA), which he says has been poorly managed and plagued by scandal. He also wants to combat rising property crimes, increase general city safety, create more housing options for low- to mid-income levels, enhance economic development, and contribute to the plan for Grand Park.
More voter resources:
- Website: LeeSunForIrvineMayor.org
- Endorsements: Full list here
- Official candidate statement
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