Growing up in Monterrey, Mexico, Betty Martinez Franco said she never considered a political life.
But after she moved to California and became a United States citizen, she said her journey began toward where she is today — the first Latina councilmember of the city of Irvine.
She was sworn in on Tuesday, May 14, at City Hall, completing Irvine’s transition from a five-member to a seven-member city council.
“I never thought I was gonna get this far,” she said in an interview before the ceremony.
Martinez Franco started her campaign late in 2024 for the special election to fill the District 5 council seat through 2026. The position was open because Larry Agran vacated his at-large council seat after winning his election for mayor in November.
Because the city is transitioning to district-based elections, the voters of District 5 chose who would fill the last two years of the council seat’s term. District 5 includes Woodbridge, Westpark and a residential area south of the 405 Freeway and east of the Rancho San Joaquin Golf Course.
Martinez Franco signed up to run against stiff competition, including former councilmembers Tammy Kim and Anthony Kuo.
When Kim dropped out of the race in February amid a lawsuit that alleged she was not a District 5 resident, Martinez Franco said she started to see a faint path to victory.
At that point, it was a race between her and Kuo and another political newcomer, Dana Cornelius.
Still, she faced an uphill battle.
Kuo’s campaign raised about $28,000 while Martinez Franco’s raised about $18,000. Cornlieus, who ultimately finished a distant third, did not report any campaign spending.
“The most important thing I did was just going and knocking on doors and talking to people and really listening,” Martinez Franco said. “I had a lot of residents say, ‘Wow, you’re the first candidate that has ever knocked on my door.’ I think that left an impression on them.”
On Tuesday, Martinez Franco was sworn in as her daughter, Paola Cosmicki, read her the oath of office.
“I said I wasn’t going to cry, but this is so emotional to me,” Martinez Franco said during the ceremony. “I’m sure it’s emotional to my daughter after all that we have gone through just to be standing here — this is really special.”
It’s almost serendipitous how Martinez Franco got to the dais in that moment.
After completing her master’s degree in public administration at USC, Martinez Franco said she enrolled in a program called Emerge California that trains Democratic women to run for office.
“They taught us how to run a campaign, and they made us pledge to run in the next election,” she said. “I figured I was going to run in the general election, but then I found out my seat was open in a special election and I needed to run.”
Now that she’s won, Martinez Franco, who runs a boutique public affairs shop, said she plans to use her platform to advance policies that help small business owners from minority communities.
“The city is working on programming that’s going to be a hub for services for small business owners,” she said. “I’m going to be asking to include all the local and ethnic chambers of commerce in this program and whatever services we provide. It’s important to bring that diversity to entrepreneurship.”
