Diane Brooks Dixon is an American politician serving in the California State Assembly. As a Republican, she represents the 72nd State Assembly District, which includes Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Beach, and portions of Costa Mesa. She was a former mayor and city councilwoman of Newport Beach.
Dixon has had 20 bills signed into law by the Governor through the 2023/24 and 2025/26 legislative sessions. She has had more bills signed into law than any other Republican lawmaker during that period. These bills have heavily focused on E-Bike regulation, drug and alcohol recovery facilities and human trafficking.
Education and marriage life Diane earned her Bachelor of Arts with honors in political science from the University of Southern California. She is married to Pat Dixon, a career prosecutor who serves as a Special Counsel to the Orange County District Attorney.
Political life Diane spent 40 years in the private sector as a business executive before being elected to the Newport Beach City Council in 2014, where she served two terms as a Mayor. Her leadership helped deliver budget surpluses, pay down pension liabilities, improve public safety, and complete infrastructure projects on time and within budget and foster greater cooperation between residents, businesses and government to resolve community problems. Diane is past president of the Association of California Cities-Orange County. She served (2019-2022) on the regional council of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and as a board member of the Orange County Council of Governments (OCCOG).
In 2020, Dixon ran for the California State Assembly against first-term Democrat Cottie Petrie-Norris. Dixon lost the general election by a very narrow margin. In 2022, redistricting led Petrie-Norris to run in a neighboring district. Dixon won the election.
Diane has been an active member on several philanthropic community-based boards of directors for nearly four decades, including United Way Orange County, YMCA, USC Board of Councilors and Alumni Association, educational institutions, child service agencies and health-related organizations.
She currently represents 37 miles of Orange County’s coastline. She secured $1.5 million from the California State Budget with then-State Senator Dave Min to finalize construction of the Upper Newport Bay Trash Interceptor before creating the San Gabriel River Working Group. This working group created a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Orange County and Los Angeles County and their cities, along with signing a partnership with the Netherlands-based nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup. She attributes much of this environmental work to her involvement in the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.
Electoral history Newport Beach City Council
California State Assembly
Orange County Board of Supervisors - District 5
2026 Primary election Party Candidate Votes % Katrina Foley (incumbent) 85,231 47.0 Diane Dixon 84,932 46.8 Lucy Vellema 11,264 6.2 Total votes 181,427 100.0
General electionNovember 3, 2026 Party Candidate Votes % Katrina Foley (incumbent) Diane Dixon Total votes
References
External links Official Website Diane Dixon on Ballotpedia Campaign Website