In January of 2007, Mayor Sarmiento was appointed to the Santa Ana City Council to represent Ward 1. He was formally elected as the Ward 1 City Councilmember in November 2008, then re-elected in November 2012 and November 2016. In November 2020 he was elected Mayor of Santa Ana.

Mayor Sarmiento currently serves as a Director for the Orange County Transportation Authority. He previously served as the President of the Orange County Water District Board of Directors, Vice-Chair of the Transportation Corridor Agency, and Board Member with the Orange County Fire Authority. Mayor Sarmiento is a member of the Santa Ana Discovery Cube Board of Directors, and a former member of the Board of Directors with the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO).

Mayor Sarmiento graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and received his Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. More recently, he attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and successfully completed the Certificate Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.

Mayor Sarmiento and his family have lived in and around Santa Ana, and central Orange County since 1965. He attended John Muir Elementary, Sierra Elementary, and Willard Intermediate Schools. Mayor Sarmiento now lives in a 1929 historic home in the Saddleback View neighborhood, three blocks from where he grew up. Presently, he and his wife Eva, also an attorney, are the principal owners of a law practice in Santa Ana. They have three children whom they hope will learn the value of public service and contribute to their community.