Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Donald P. Wagner is the oldest of Don and Paula Wagner’s four children. In the mid-sixties, the Wagner family moved to the San Fernando Valley for a few years, then to Tennessee, finally returning to California to stay when Don was 12 years old.

The family’s return to the golden state was a defining moment for Don. He remembers the feeling of openness and the opportunity embodied by California. Later, when his own young family moved to Orange County, those memories were rekindled driving past orange groves and sensing dynamic, exciting new opportunities. He knew that he and his family would build a future there. He also knew he would throw himself into the life of the community and never leave again.

He met his future wife, Megan, at their public high school in Ventura County. Megan and Don both attended UCLA, where Don received his Bachelor of Arts degree. Don earned his Juris Doctor from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. It was during this time that Don Wagner came of political age, under Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Like President Reagan, Don always understood and appreciated what it meant to be from California, with its abundant freedom and opportunity. He saw firsthand what it took to bring the nation back to its feet after the malaise of the Carter years with its long gas lines, high taxes, and international crises.

Don and Megan both passed the notoriously difficult California Bar on their first try, despite having their first child born less than two months before the exam. Unsurprisingly, they both learned then that sleep is overrated. Megan now serves as an Orange County Superior Court Judge.

In 1987, Don began his legal career as a business lawyer at a mid-sized Los Angeles and Orange County law firm. In 1993, Don started his own firm, which ultimately became Wagner, Lautsch LLP, advising business and real estate clients. Don served on several committees for the Orange County Bar Association and as a Judge Pro-Tempore in the Superior Court of Orange County. Don is also the Founder and first President of the Orange County Chapter of the Federalist Society, a national organization of lawyers, judges, and law professors that promotes judicial integrity and strict adherence to the Constitution of the United States.

Don was elected in 1998 as a member of the South County Community College District Board of Trustees. Of his twelve years on the Board, Don served six as Board President, where he balanced every budget and paid off all debts without raising taxes or burdening the public with bonds.

In 2010, Don was elected to serve in the California State Assembly where he represented the 70thDistrict from 2010 to 2012 and the 68th District from 2012 to 2016. In 2016 he was elected Mayor of Irvine, serving until 2019 with his election to the Orange County Board of Supervisors. On the Board of Supervisors, Don has served as Vice Chairman of the Board from 2022 to 2023 and Chairman from 2023 to January 2025. Evidencing his ability to work across the aisle while holding onto his conservative values, Don was elected twice to the position of Board Chairman by a Democratic-controlled body.

As a member of the State Assembly, Don Wagner served on numerous committees such as Aging and Long-Term Care, Appropriations, Budget, Education, and as Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee. On the financial committees, Don oversaw all state spending and revenue, quickly earning a reputation for expertise in government fiscal affairs; the Association of California Cities – Orange County invited Don multiple times to teach government finance and budgeting to local elected officials at UCI.

Don has been credited with numerous “promises made and promises kept” accomplishments. In 2017, Mayor Wagner fulfilled his promise to the citizens of Irvine and lead the effort to build out of the Great Park after $200 million had been wasted under prior city councils. Because of Don’s leadership, the Great Park is now home to world-class sports and cultural amenities.

Shortly after taking office in 2019, Supervisor Wagner brought together multiple entities to reopen Irvine Lake for shoreline fishing, without additional cost to taxpayers and after the lake had been closed for three years. The Orange County Register named him one of OC’s Most Influential People in recognition for his leadership. The re-opening of Irvine Lake, long sought by his constituents, reflects Don's ability to accomplish complicated projects for the benefit of the people he serves.

In 2020, Don identified and allocated funding to process a 30-year backlog of sexual assault evidence kits at the County of Orange, which led to the prosecution of a longtime sex offender and the identification of perpetrators on national sex offender registries. The processing of over 1,500 backlogged rape kits was completed by the fall of 2021, helping bring much needed and long delayed closure to victims of some of the county's most heinous crimes.

Don's most important public project, begun during his time in the legislature and continuing now on the Board of Supervisors, is to ensure that Orange County is home to a Military Cemetery for all those who have worn our country’s uniform and given so much to us all.

Don’s service on the Orange County Fire Authority, Orange County Transportation Authority, Transportation Corridor Agencies, Southern California Association of Governments, the Orange County Council of Governments, the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission, and the Orange County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, gives him a breadth of knowledge and experience in issues that affect the day-to-day lives of all Californians.

A recent cancer survivor, Don has consistently demonstrated a can-do attitude and belief in addressing problems head-on. He aggressively works to find agreement where possible though has never been one to “go along to get along”. Don believes the key to good governance is to look for common ground and not make policy disputes personal. But while Don is always willing to listen to and work with people of all viewpoint, he is not willing to compromise his core values in the name of political expediency.

Don’s approach to government service is summarized by the phrase from Leviticus inscribed on the Liberty Bell: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”

Don and Megan, now married over 40 years, raised and educated three children in the Orange County public school system. Don and Megan coached youth baseball, softball, and soccer and held leadership roles in a youth swim league and Indian Guides and Indian Princesses. They are now the grandparents of two and are avid babysitters.

Don and Megan are passionate UCLA sports fans. Don roots for the Angels and Ducks, of course, but also for the Dodgers given his time in Los Angeles and the Steelers from his hometown of Pittsburgh. In addition to his work, Wagner serves on the board of Angel Force USA which is dedicated to raising awareness about suicide in the military. An English major with a robust grounding in the classics and a love of history, Don is an avid reader, having cruised through War & Peace twice, all of Shakespeare, almost all of Tom Stoppard and Jorge Luis Borges, and urges everyone to read anything by the incomparable Thomas Sowell.