Janet Nguyen

Orange County Supervisor, First District

Director Janet Nguyen returns to the Board of Supervisors on a platform of fighting corruption and waste after serving from 2007-2014. She was elected to represent the First District on the Orange County Board of Supervisors in November 2024 with a 61% victory exemplifying the trust voters have placed in her leadership over the past 20 years.

Director Nguyen is a small business owner with a long history of public service, having been elected as a State Senator and Assemblymember for Orange County and portions of Los Angeles County. She was also a member of the Garden Grove City Council.

As Senator, Director Nguyen was named Legislator of the Year by the American Legion, the Association of the United States Army, and the Vietnam Veterans of America. She was named “Champion of Manufacturing” by the California Manufacturers and Technology Association for working to protect jobs and received top ratings from leading consumer advocacy groups such as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and California Taxpayers Association.

Director Nguyen has continuously fought against tax and regulatory increases, including spending her entire career in the Legislature battling the state’s continuous gas taxes. She is an animal advocate and crime fighter, authoring state laws on animal shelters and stiffer sentences for fentanyl dealers.

Director Nguyen has a history of firsts. She was the first woman to represent the 72nd Assembly District, the first Vietnamese American in the country to be elected to both the State Senate and Assembly, the highest-ranking Vietnamese American elected official in the United States and the only Asian American woman legislator in California.

In addition, she was the first Asian American and Vietnamese American to serve on the Board of Supervisors and the youngest Supervisor in Orange County history.

Born in Vietnam, Director Nguyen and her family escaped communism on a small wooden 10-meter boat sailing across the Southeast Asia Sea in search of freedom. After passing through numerous refugee camps, Director Nguyen and her family arrived in California in 1981.

Director Janet Nguyen is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine and the Aspen Institute’s Aspen-Rodel Fellowship Leadership Program. She resides in Huntington Beach with her husband, Tom and two sons.