{"id":328079,"date":"2026-05-22T17:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T17:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328079\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T17:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T17:27:12","slug":"5-vietnamese-american-candidates-compete-for-californias-45th-congressional-district-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328079\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Vietnamese American candidates compete for California\u2019s 45th Congressional District seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

An almost entirely Vietnamese American field of candidates is competing for California\u2019s 45th Congressional District seat, anchored by Orange County\u2019s Little Saigon.<\/p>\n

A reshaped district<\/p>\n

Democrat Derek Tran, 45, won the seat in 2024 by 653 votes over two-time incumbent Michelle Steel<\/a>, becoming the first Vietnamese American to represent a district that includes the country\u2019s largest Vietnamese community. The district covers parts of northern Orange County and Los Angeles County, including Buena Park, Cypress, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Lakewood, Norwalk and Westminster.<\/p>\n

Democrats hold an eight-point registration edge, though roughly 25% of voters are registered with no party preference. Asian Americans account for about 40% of the district\u2019s 750,000 voting-age residents.<\/p>\n

The challengers and the money race<\/p>\n

The Vietnamese American Republican field includes Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen, Westminster Councilmember Amy Phan West, former Cerritos Mayor Chuong Vo and taekwondo studio owner Tom Vo. Operations analyst Mark Leonard, the only non-Vietnamese American challenger, is also on the Republican ballot.<\/p>\n

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Tran heads into the primary with a wide fundraising lead, having raised<\/a> $3.9 million through March 31, as per the Los Angeles Times. His record includes the Warrior Act, which codifies women\u2019s right to serve in combat, and the Small Business Innovation Research Foreign Interference Safeguard Act co-authored with Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.). However, he has also drawn criticism<\/a> from VietRISE and others who said he has not done enough to push back on federal immigration enforcement sweeps in Little Saigon.<\/p>\n

Why this matters<\/p>\n

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made District 45 one of its earliest 2026 targets, running multilingual print ads<\/a> in Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean community papers. Across the field, affordability and housing costs have dominated the policy agenda. \u201cWe truly believe we worked so hard to flee a communist party to come here for American values,\u201d Chuong Vo, a retired police officer, told NBC LA. \u201cWe have to continue that here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stakes extend beyond one seat. The Supreme Court\u2019s recent ruling in Louisiana v. Callais<\/a> narrowed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The decision arrives as Asian Americans, the country\u2019s fastest-growing racial group, are only starting to build the geographic concentration needed to elect representatives of their choice. Tran called the decision \u201ca betrayal of the promise of equal representation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The top two finishers in the June 2 primary will advance to November regardless of party.<\/p>\n

This story is part of The Rebel Yellow Newsletter \u2014 a bold newsletter from the creators of NextShark, reclaiming our stories and celebrating Asian American voices.<\/p>\n

Subscribe free to join the movement. If you love what we\u2019re building, consider becoming a paid member \u2014 your support helps us grow our team, investigate impactful stories, and uplift our community.<\/p>\n

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Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Source] An almost entirely Vietnamese American field of candidates is competing for California\u2019s 45th Congressional District seat, anchored…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,136277,136278,15344,137,611,58777],"class_list":["post-328079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-californias-45th-congressional-district","tag-derek-tran","tag-little-saigon","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-orange-county","tag-vietnamese-american"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}