Editing Costa Mesa, California (section)

==Government==
===Local===
A general law city, Costa Mesa has a [[Council–manager government|council-manager form of government]]. In [[Municipal elections in Costa Mesa, California#2016 Measure EE Election|November 2016]], voters approved changing the City Council seats from five at-large seats to six voting districts and a directly elected mayor, who acts as the chairperson for the council and head of the government.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Money |first=Luke |date=September 28, 2016 |title=Election 2016: Costa Mesa has all-time high 8 ballot measures in November |work=[[Daily Pilot]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/tn-dpt-me-costa-mesa-ballot-initiatives-20160928-story.html |access-date=January 2, 2024}}</ref> The mayor serves two-year terms and councilmembers serve four year terms, with each office having a two-term limit. [[Municipal elections in Costa Mesa, California|Municipal elections]] are held every two years, during which the mayor and three councilmembers are up for election.

Day to day, the city is run by a professional city manager and staff of approximately 460 full-time employees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Costa Mesa {{!}} City of Costa Mesa |url=https://www.costamesaca.gov/about |access-date=June 22, 2022 |website=www.costamesaca.gov |language=en |archive-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108225254/https://www.costamesaca.gov/about |url-status=live }}</ref> Management of the city and coordination of city services are provided by:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us/departments/cafr/cafr-07-08.pdf | work = City of Costa Mesa | title = COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT |date= | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090625180859/http://www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us/departments/cafr/cafr-07-08.pdf | access-date = June 4, 2009| archive-date = June 25, 2009 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Office
! Officeholder
|-
|City Manager
|Lori Ann Farrell Harrison
|-
|Assistant City Manager
|Cecilia Gallardo-Daly
|-
|City Attorney
|Kimberly Hall Barlow
|-
|City Clerk
|Brenda Green
|-
|Economic & Development Services Director
|Carrie Tai
|-
|Finance Director
|Carol Molina
|-
|I.T. Director
|Steve Ely
|-
|Public Works Director
|Raja Sethuraman
|-
|Parks and Community Services Director
|Brian Gruner
|-
|Fire Chief
|Dan Stefano
|-
|Police Chief
|Ronald Lawrence
|}
Residents of the city are also governed by various [[Special district (United States)|special districts]], including the [[Mesa Water District]], the [[Orange County Water District]], the [[Municipal Water District of Orange County]], the [[Irvine Ranch Water District]], and the [[Costa Mesa Sanitary District]].

===State and federal===
In the [[California State Legislature]], Costa Mesa is in {{Representative|casd|37|fmt=sdistrict}}, and in {{Representative|caad|73|fmt=adistrict}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://statewidedatabase.org/gis/gis2011/index_2011.html |title=Statewide Database |publisher=UC Regents |access-date= November 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201113744/http://statewidedatabase.org/gis/gis2011/index_2011.html |archive-date= February 1, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the [[United States House of Representatives]], Costa Mesa is in {{Representative|cacd|47|fmt=district}}.<ref>{{Cite GovTrack|CA|48}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"  style="float:right; margin:1em; font-size:95%;"
|+ Costa Mesa city vote<br/> by party in presidential elections
|- style="background:lightgrey;"
! Year
! [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
! [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
! [[Third party (United States)|Third Parties]]
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|[[2020 United States presidential election|2020]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/GEN2020/Run_27/sov.pdf|title=Votes cast|website=ocvote.com|access-date=January 18, 2021|archive-date=January 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111091518/https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/GEN2020/Run_27/sov.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|'''56.00%''' ''29,804''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|41.44% ''22,056''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|2.55% ''1,358''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|[[2016 United States presidential election|2016]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/gen2016/sov.pdf |title=Data |year=2016 |website=ocvote.com |access-date=October 21, 2019 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412181918/https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/gen2016/sov.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|'''50.95%''' ''21,528''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|40.75% ''17,219''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|8.30% ''3,507''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[2012 United States presidential election|2012]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/gen2012/sov-for-web.pdf |title=Data |year=2012 |website=ocvote.com |access-date=October 21, 2019 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412182258/https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/gen2012/sov-for-web.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|47.66% ''18,414''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''48.60%''' ''18,778''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|3.74% ''1,443''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|[[2008 United States presidential election|2008]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Data |year=2008 |website=ocvote.com |url=https://www.ocvote.com/ |access-date=February 18, 2019 |archive-date=February 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223055056/https://www.ocvote.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|'''51.88%''' ''20,542''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|45.32% ''17,945''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|2.80% ''1,107''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[2004 United States presidential election|2004]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/user_upload/sov/e13/sov1.pdf |title=Info |website=www.ocvote.com |access-date=October 21, 2019 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412175322/https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/user_upload/sov/e13/sov1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|42.91% ''16,442''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''55.55%''' ''21,284''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|1.54% ''590''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[2000 United States presidential election|2000]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/user_upload/sov/gen2000/gen2000-SOV.pdf |title=SOV.xls |access-date=October 21, 2019 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412175330/https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/user_upload/sov/gen2000/gen2000-SOV.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|40.06% ''13,733''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''54.13%''' ''18,556''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|5.81% ''1,990''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[1996 United States presidential election|1996]]<ref>{{cite web |url= https://archive.org/details/statementofvote51996cali |title=Statement of the Vote | location=Sacramento, Calif |publisher= California Secretary of State | via = Internet Archive |year=1996|access-date=October 21, 2019}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|36.97% ''11,949''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''50.16%''' ''16,213''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|12.87% ''4,161''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[1992 United States presidential election|1992]]<ref>{{cite web |url= https://archive.org/details/statementofvote31992cali | title=Statement of the Vote | location=Sacramento, Calif |publisher= California Secretary of State | via = Internet Archive |year=1968 |access-date=October 21, 2019}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|32.46% ''12,702''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''40.02%''' ''15,659''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|27.52% ''10,769''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[1988 United States presidential election|1988]]<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/statementofvote81988cali | title=Statement of the Vote | location=Sacramento, Calif |publisher= California Secretary of State | via = Internet Archive| year=1968}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|33.90% ''11,849''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''64.47%''' ''22,534''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|1.63% ''571''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[1984 United States presidential election|1984]]<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/statementofvote61984cali | title=Statement of the Vote| publisher=Sacramento, Calif. : The Secretary| year=1968}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|26.16% ''8,908''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''72.39%''' ''24,652''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|1.45% ''493''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[1980 United States presidential election|1980]]<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/statementofvote41980cali| title=Statement of the Vote | location=Sacramento, Calif |publisher= California Secretary of State | via = Internet Archive| year= 1980}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|24.67% ''7,796''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''63.38%''' ''20,028''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|11.95% ''3,775''
|-
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|[[1976 United States presidential election|1976]]<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/statementofvote1976cali | title=Statement of the Vote | location=Sacramento, Calif |publisher= California Secretary of State | via = Internet Archive| year= 1976}}</ref>
|align="center" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|35.51% ''9,805''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''62.16%''' ''17,161''
|align="center" {{Party shading/Independent}}|2.33% ''643''
|}

===Politics===
According to the [[Secretary of State of California|California Secretary of State]], as of February 20, 2024, Costa Mesa has 60,789 registered voters. Of those, 22,661 (37.3%) are registered Democrats, 19,888 (32.7%) are registered Republicans, 15,204 (25%) have declined to state a political party/are independents, 2,717 (4.5%) are registered [[American Independent Party|American Independents]], and 319 (0.5%) are registered to the [[Green Party of the United States|Green Party]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Weber |first=Shirley |date=February 20, 2024 |title=CA Secretary of State – Report of Registration – February 10, 2024 |url=https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ror/15day-presprim-2024/complete-ror.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240715032137/https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ror/15day-presprim-2024/complete-ror.pdf |archive-date=July 15, 2024 |access-date=September 6, 2024 |website=ca.gov}}</ref>

Until 2008, Costa Mesa was a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] stronghold in presidential elections. Since 2008, Costa Mesa has mostly voted [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] in presidential elections, owing to the GOP's shift towards cultural conservatism. In 2008, [[Barack Obama]] was the first Democrat to carry Costa Mesa in decades, while Republican nominee [[Mitt Romney]] carried the city by only 364 votes in the 2012 presidential election. Costa Mesa flipped back to Democratic in 2016, voting for [[Hillary Clinton]] by a 10.2% margin, and for [[Joe Biden]] by a 14.6% margin in 2020. {{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

In 2008, Costa Mesa was one of four cities in Orange County to vote against [[Proposition 8]] (along with Aliso Viejo, Irvine, and Laguna Beach), a statewide ballot measure that banned same-sex marriages.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 26, 2013 |title=Will Laguna Beach Voters Get Their Way on Same Sex Marriage? |url=https://patch.com/california/lagunabeach/will-laguna-beach-voters-get-their-way-on-same-sex-marriage |access-date=January 26, 2023 |website=Laguna Beach, CA Patch |language=en |archive-date=January 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126200212/https://patch.com/california/lagunabeach/will-laguna-beach-voters-get-their-way-on-same-sex-marriage |url-status=live }}</ref>