Villa Park councilmember thinks Sacramento ignores communities — and she wants to change that

Another candidate has entered what is shaping up to be a crowded legislative race in Orange County for 2024.

Villa Park councilmember and business owner Crystal Miles has announced her candidacy for the 37th district which includes Aliso Viejo, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Laguna Niguel and Villa Park.

Miles, who was first elected to the City Council in 2018, said she is running because she believes policy decisions in the statehouse have negatively impacted local communities, including how California handles housing. The state, she said, has spent billions of dollars trying to address homelessness, but the unhoused population continues to rise.

“Sacramento politicians are making decisions based on what is best for them, not the community,” Miles said. “They ignore the problems they have created or they are inept at dealing with it.”

Together with her husband, Miles owns and operates an Orange County-based wholesale distributing business. If elected, Miles said she would like to work toward creating more economic opportunity in California and cut down on what she sees as “many of the state’s top economic generators fleeing to other states.”

Public safety is another big-ticket item Miles is hoping to tackle in Sacramento if elected. Strong measures are needed, she said, because crime is rising.

Sen. Dave Min now holds the seat. But the Irvine Democrat launched a bid for the 47th congressional district seat earlier this year.

Miles, in addition to Sen. Josh Newman, former Assemblymember Steven Choi and Irvine native Alex Mohajer, have all launched campaigns hoping to take Min’s spot in the legislature.

Newman and Mohajer are both running as Democrats while Choi and Miles are Republicans.

“To me, the Republican Party is the party of freedom and opportunity,” Miles said. “The party and its ideology offer a path for the American Dream through creating opportunity equally.”

OC Supervisor Don Wagner is chairing Miles’ campaign, calling her “a community leader and woman of action who will shake up the status quo in Sacramento.”

Source: Orange County Register