About Sergio
Sergio Farias is a two-term councilmember, former mayor, business owner, family man, and homegrown leader who worked his whole life to improve the neighborhoods where he was born and raised, serve his city and community, and bring lasting change to the region.
A son of immigrants who settled in San Juan Capistrano seeking a better life and job opportunities, Sergio learned much from his parents about hard work and dedication to community Sergio’s father started a landscaping business and his mother worked a factory job before it was outsourced overseas. His parents were active in church, where Sergio was an altar boy, and would feed immigrant families desperate for a meal. Their hard work and dedication to serving their community had a profound effect on Sergio, who was forced to take over his father’s landscaping business at just 16, working to provide for their family when his father became tragically ill, passing away while Sergio was in high school. He completed high school while working full-time and successfully owned and operated the business for another 18 years.
A neighborhood leader, Sergio became active in his city also at a young age. He worked to ensure historically disenfranchised neighborhoods in San Juan Capistrano had a voice during the cities transition to by-district elections in 2016. Beating an establishment-backed candidate in 2016 by 17 points, Sergio’s historic win was seen as a triumph of grassroots organizing and citizen-action.
Since Sergio’s election to the city council in 2016, San Juan Capistrano has become a regional leader in public safety, infrastructure improvements, neighborhood beautification, climate resiliency, and transparency. Twice elected mayor by his colleagues, Sergio’s bipartisan leadership helped create new growth opportunities in the city, reduced homelessness by 25%, addressed housing affordability, and expanded park space – all while ensuring the city remained fiscally sound and leading the city successfully through the pandemic.
Sergio Farias and his wife live in San Juan Capistrano, they have a daughter who is attending college.
