After graduating from Harvard University and returning to Anaheim, Daly served as an aide for Orange County Supervisor Ralph Clark for eight years.

The decisive issue in the campaign was an unpopular citywide utility tax supported by then-Mayor Hunter, which was strongly opposed by Daly while he served as a City Councilmember.

Daly served as an adviser to her successful upstart campaign against longtime incumbent and conservative Bob Dornan, in which Sanchez won by 984 votes.

In 1997, the Anaheim City Council took the unprecedented step of hiring a special prosecutor Ravi Mehta to investigate alleged campaign violations during the 1996 election.

Only two out of the five-member council approved the hiring after the Anaheim City Attorney refused to file charges saying the allegations against Daly and Councilmember Irv Pickler were unfounded.

The probe by Mehta, a former chair of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, led to misdemeanor complaints against Daly and Picker.

The complaints were ultimately rejected by an Orange County Municipal Judge, who also stated that the council had "no authority [to hire] a special prosecutor, period."

While mayor, Daly also served on the board of directors for the Orange County Transportation Authority, where he helped oversee the Measure M $3 billion improvement program.

As the Clerk-Recorder, Daly opened branch offices in historic downtown Fullerton and Laguna Hills Civic Center, providing more access to North and South County.

Democratic challengers Santa Ana councilmember Michele Martinez and Orange County Labor Federation-backed candidate Julio Perez failed to garner enough votes to reach the November general election.

In this role, Daly championed efforts to reduce business filing processing delays and backlogs in the Secretary of State's office as well as speed up Veteran Affairs claims by returning service members from Iraq and Afghanistan.