I am a huge Jordan Kirby fan

The Coast Guard veteran, Huntington Beach resident and Assembly District 72 candidate is a super longshot. He's also straight-up super.

Jordan Kirby: Has suit and tie, but could use some coin.

In the lord’s year of 2025, there is something incredibly refreshing about the political candidate who runs not on the charge of ego or fame or financial gain, but because he simply wants to do right.

I really mean this. Since starting The Truth OC seven months ago, I’ve come across far too many people who enter the political universe guided by some disturbing level of God complex. They believe they—and only they—are fit for [FILL IN THE BLANK JOB]. Maybe, like Capo Unified School Board President Lisa Davis, they are certain Jesus Christ is pulling the strings. Maybe, like CA-40 aspirant Esther Kim Varet, it’s a feeling that the fattest wallet equals the most valuable run. Maybe, like Huntington Beach mayor Pat Burns, it’s a Bull Connor-esque belief in the universe requiring a new sheriff.

Whatever the case, it’s exhausting.

Whatever the case, it’s poisonous.

And, whatever the case, it’s not Jordan Kirby, a Democrat running a longshot campaign for State Assembly District 72—which is being vacated by Republican Diane Dixon, who is challenging Katrina Foley for her position as the Orange County Supervisor representing the 5th District.

I first met Jordan a bunch o’ weeks ago, when we both attended a street-corner democracy rally in Mission Viejo. He introduced himself, handed me a flyer—and I did that “Uh-huh, uh-huh” thing when you’re listening/not listening. However, a few days later I started Googling ol’ Jordan, and discovered that here was a dude who describes himself in campaign literature as a “working-class veteran … running for the people …” and that it’s actually true. No garbage. No bullshit. No nonsense. Just honor.

So we spoke via Zoom—and I loved the guy.

This is the full interview, which is worth your time …

First, Jordan is aware his odds of winning are slim. There are already three announced candidates—one Democrat (activist Chris Kluwe, a former NFL punter), one semi-normal Republican (former state assemblyman and Huntington Beach Mayor Matthew Harper) and one right-wing freakoid nut-job self-loathing lunatic who, despite being Latina, rolls with QAnon and approves MAGA library monuments as her role as a member of the Huntington Beach City Council (Gracey Van Der Mark). All enter the race with more name recognition, more money and more organizational power. Fan Duel has the New Orleans Saints as 40,000-to-1 odds of winning the Super Bowl. Jordan is, in this election, Spencer Rattler.

Second, Jordan is the real deal. The authentic article. He was born in Anaheim, raised in Riverside County. He attended community college, but was sick of living at home and tired of the meh routine. So when he was told of this thing called the Coast Guard, where you have a chance to serve in the armed forces and save lots of people, well, he was in. “I found myself in Cape May going to Coast Guard Bootcamp,” he told me. “And then I was on helicopters during search and rescue in Alaska for eight years.”

I asked Jordan for his money Coast Guard story. The one he tells at parties.

“Well, there are so many times that I've almost died,” he said. “The one that sticks out to me the most was we just got back, we're in Alaska, flying back from Anchorage. We're in a banking turn at 180 feet going 100 miles per hour, so very low, very fast. And the aircraft has two engines, and the number two engine above my head died in flight. So I heard a squealing. I looked at the MFD up front, the multifunction display, the engine stats went solid red all the way to the top.

“And my buddy and I in the back, we just kind of looked at each other. The pilot up front, there's two pilots. The main pilot grabbed the power control lever for the engine that was keeping us in the air, and he started to back it off. And the other pilot, the copilot started screaming at him just saying, wrong PCL, wrong PCL, it's the number one, it's the number one, it's the number one. And then it was just this dead silence. Both of them were looking at each other. Nobody was flying the plane anymore. And both of us in the back were just sort of like, all right, let's strap up. Just kind of laughed and just sat there until the pilot took his hand off, moved the other one back, and then we came in for a landing. And that was definitely my introduction to aviation and the one that sticks with me the most.”

After leaving the military, Jordan—who is on disability and makes $45,000 per year—founded a nonprofit to educate on and assist in awareness of suicide prevention among veterans. He said he faced some extraordinarily low moments, and said five fellow soldiers killed themselves in a brief span. “And when I asked for help, because I had been struggling, I got looked at in the face and they said, ‘We're just not worried about you,’” Kirby said. “And there were a lot of things that went through my mind right then. I can't believe this guy just said that after the military pretended to care, they're like, ‘Oh yeah, we definitely care. If you ever need help, just ask.’ … In that moment, I realized that that's most likely exactly what everybody else had gone through.”

Third, Jordan is selfless about this all. I’ve been writing a lot about the CA-40 race, and most of the Democrats seem reluctant to admit others might be suited for the task, too. Kirby, however, says if Kluwe winds up leading the way, he would gladly step aside. “If Chris wins the primary,” he said. “I'm going 100 percent behind him for assembly.” [I reached out to Kluwe, who expressed nothing but admiration for Kirby: “I’m pretty sure we align 100 percent,” Kluwe said. “Regardless which of us wins, we’re on the same team. I think that’s important, especially now. At the end of the day, we’re both working to make America a better place”].

Ultimately, Kirby’s mission is simple: To save democracy. To show people that Donald Trump is toxic. To rise up and take a stand and lead a charge and keep America from continuing its backslide toward authoritarianism. He wants to do what the military taught him to do: Fight for righteousness.

“There's really nothing we can do about [MAGA brainwashing] other than continue to just fight against the propaganda and to try to hope that eventually these people are going to see something, some major flaw that allows the entire thing to come unraveled, which is something that always happens,” he said. “It's a cult, for lack of better terms. It's not just an idea. It's part of their personality. So when you go against Trump, you're saying that they're wrong, too.”

Which, Jordan Kirby insists, is true.

They’re wrong.

And he’s righteous.