My name is Donna Vidrine, my husband and I have lived in the Forster Ranch neighborhood of San Clemente for twenty years. Now I’m running to serve you as a member of the San Clemente City Council.

Politics is not a game. You deserve leaders who’ve worked in the trenches, devoted themselves to improving people’s lives and believe public service is a calling. That’s why I’m running.

Like many of you, I’m a transplant to California. I was lured here by my husband Warren. What a gift for an Ohio girl to find love and one of the most beautiful coastal communities in America. What a wonderful place to raise and gather our blended family of seven children… and now seven grandchildren. My life is rooted in family, community and four decades as a nurse, educator and wellness professional.

I’m also a proud veteran of the United States Air Force. My deployments during the first Gulf War and on a humanitarian mission to provide health care to refugees from Haiti at Guantanamo Bay allowed me to build both my nursing skills and my leadership abilities. I’ve been a nurse educator, served on a State Ethics Committee and led nursing teams dedicated to maternal health, open heart surgery, neurology, transplants, burns and trauma in local hospitals here in Orange County.

Now is my opportunity to take all my experience in leadership, management and service to people’s physical, emotional and practical needs to give back to a community I’m so proud to be a part of. In a few short years, San Clemente will celebrate our centennial. The decisions we make today will shape our future for years to come. As your city council representative, I pledge to be inclusive, transparent and ethical in all my efforts. I believe in the value of public service, am beholden to no one but you, and will be working hard every day to preserve, protect and enhance our quality of life.

Let’s work together to build the brightest future possible for San Clemente.