Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark is the new mayor of Huntington Beach after a split council voted to give her the title and duties.
The mayor is chosen by the City Council’s members from within their ranks and is for a one-year term. The position is largely ceremonial, representing the city at events, but the mayor is able to call special meetings and runs council meetings with control of the gavel.
“I’m the first Latina elected as mayor of this great city,” Van Der Mark said Tuesday night. “This means so much, not only for my family and I, but for the entire city.”
The council voted along ideological lines 4-3 to name Van Der Mark the mayor. Councilmember Tony Strickland has served the last year as mayor since a new conservative majority that also include councilmembers Pat Burns and Casey McKeon won as a slate in November 2022.
Many supporters cheered Van Der Mark’s appointment during the council meeting, though there were also several critics who spoke during the public comment period.
Van Der Mark, who is in her first term on council, is most known for her push this year to implement an appointed community review board to vet children’s books for sexual content in the city’s public library system. She touted the council’s actions this year to withdraw from the renewable-energy focused Orange County Power Authority and reach a settlement with the air show operator as part of a list of accomplishments.
The council voted 4-3 to set aside an existing policy that calls for council leadership to be based on seniority. Burns was appointed mayor pro tem.
A vote to make Councilmember Natalie Moser mayor and later mayor pro tem were both rejected by the split council along ideological lines.
Moser said her desire to represent the city was reaffirmed following the mayor and mayor pro tem appointments and criticized the decision “to deviate from established norms and procedures in our City Council” regarding who is selected as mayor.
Van Der Mark said Strickland had been mentoring her this year to eventually take over as mayor.
“She’s a fighter,” Strickland said. “The thing I really admire about Gracey is she’s no different when she was a citizen to when she was mayor pro tem.”
