Who is This Mysterious Latino Running for Anaheim City Council?

If there's anything to be said for single-member district reform, it's that it's brought on a slew of early Latino council candidates, some more mysterious than others. Out of the woebegone west side of town, a man by the name of Orlando Perez has filed to run for District One. Electoral rumors about the potential race in the district include the preppy kiddo Democrat Connor Traut squaring off against Amanda Edinger, a younger, but no less reactionary version of Esther Wallace. But who is Orlando Perez?

Is he another Latino Democrat throwing his hat in the ring? Nah. Turns out the real estate agent is a right-wing Cuban-American. Perez doesn't make mention of any platform issues on his campaign Facebook page. What we do know is that he's a member of the North Orange County Republican Club and volunteers with the National Rifle Association. City council races are nonpartisan, of course, but District One faces a slew of social challenges like homelessness, prostituted women and impoverished barrios. What solutions will Perez bring forth? Time will tell.

If Perez wins the election, it wont make any history. Bob Hernandez won in 2002 as a Cuban-American Republican. But it would bolster the arguments of the 2012 ACLU district elections lawsuit that held the at-large system as an obstacle for Latino candidates. They don't have to be union-loving Latinos, just Latinos. Even ones like Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio. Si se puede?