Navy veteran, engineer, and Costa Mesa councilwoman, Andrea Marr is running for re-election to Costa Mesa City Council’s District 3 on Nov. 8 against John Thomas Patton, a financial advisor, and Jorge Miron, a patient care advocate.
“I’m excited to be back on the ballot in November!” Marr wrote on her campaign’s Facebook page. “While we’ve accomplished so much in 4 years … there’s so much work still to do.”
Marr was elected in 2018 in the city’s first district elections. Previously, she served on the city’s Cultural Art and Bikeway and Walkability committees.
Marr said she is dedicated to making neighborhoods safer and improving parks and quality of life for residents.
During her time in office, the city approved a bridge homeless shelter, in operation since March 2021, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Marr said her focus was supporting the survival of small businesses while maintaining a city budget surplus.
Marr, 39, was born and lived in Northern California until her family moved to Rome, Italy for a decade when she was 7. She later moved back to the United States and attended the Naval Academy.
Her passion for public service, she said, led her to apply for admission to the academy, which she was nominated for by Vice President Al Gore in 2001. She earned her degree in Aerospace Engineering and completed qualifications as a nuclear reactor operator during her service in the Navy.
She served as the Gunnery and Ordinance Officer for two deployments, then led a division of 20 nuclear-trained machinists for two years, including a 10-month deployment in the Persian Gulf.
She then worked for an energy efficiency company in Seattle until she transferred to its regional office in Irvine in 2012 and moved to Costa Mesa.
She started her own energy management consulting firm in 2014 aiming to support small organizations, until it was acquired by Regatta Solutions in 2015. She is currently the vice president at Willdan, a consulting company, where she manages utility energy efficiency programs.
Marr is endorsed by the Costa Mesa Firefighters and Police associations, and the Orange County Labor Federation as well as Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie Norris (D-Irvine), Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley, Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens, and city councilmembers Manual Chavez, Arlis Reynolds, Jeff Harlan, and Loren Gameros.
Campaign finance records show she has raised nearly $18,000 this year through the end of June.
Marr did not respond to a request for an interview for this story.
