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First-year candidate Derek Tran defeated Republican Michelle Steele in the Orange County Assembly race, the most expensive race in the country, in a landslide victory for Democrats.
Trang will be the first Vietnamese-American to represent the district, which is home to Little Saigon and has the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam.
This race was the third to last called in the country. As Orange and Los Angeles counties count mail-in ballots, Mr. Steele’s margin of victory has narrowed to 58 votes, giving Mr. Tran the lead 11 days after the election.
When Mr. Steele conceded on Wednesday, Mr. Tran was leading by 613 votes, and the Associated Press called the race for Mr. Tran shortly thereafter.
“Only in America can you go from being a refugee with the clothes on your back to becoming a member of Congress in just one generation,” Tran said in a post on X.
Tran was born in the United States to Vietnamese refugee parents. The father fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975, but his wife and child were killed when his boat capsized. Tran’s father returned to Vietnam, where he met and married Tran’s mother, and the couple later immigrated to the United States.
“This victory is a testament to the spirit and resilience of our community,” Tran said in a statement. “My parents came to this country to escape oppression and pursue the American dream. Their story mirrors the journey of many here in Southern California.”
In a statement Wednesday, Ms. Steele thanked the volunteers, staff and family who worked hard on her campaign, saying, “All is God’s will, and like all journeys, this one comes to an end and a new one begins.” is about to begin,” he said.
Mr. Steele filed papers to seek re-election in 2026 on Monday, and Mr. Tran did the same on Wednesday.
The 45th District is one of the most competitive in the country and was critical to both parties vying for control of the House.
Steele’s loss leaves Republicans with 220 seats in the House, just shy of the 218 they need to control the chamber.
Only one House seat has yet to be convened. In California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, Democrat Adam Gray holds a narrow lead over Republican Rep. John Duarte in the 13th Congressional District, but the race remains too close to decide.
Both Steele and Tran focused on reaching out to Asian American voters, who make up the majority in their districts. The district spans a C-shaped belt through 17 cities in Orange and Los Angeles counties, including Garden Grove, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Buena Park, and Cerritos.
Steele, who was born to Korean parents and raised in Japan, broke through barriers in 2020 to become one of three Korean-American women elected to the House of Representatives. She relied on an anti-communist message to reach older voters who fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Mr. Tran also focused on Vietnamese American voters and Vietnamese-language media, hoping that voters would shift away from their loyalty to the Republican Party and support representatives of similar backgrounds.
Despite being a Republican, Steele became a prime target for Democrats in 2020 after voters in the 45th District supported President Biden. The two-term congressman is a formidable fundraiser with deep ties to the Orange County Republican Party, including through her husband, Sean. Mr. Steele is a former chairman of the California Republican Party.
The Republican establishment and outside groups, including the crypto lobby and Elon Musk’s super PAC, spent millions defending Steele.
In a sign of the importance of the seat to Democrats, Gov. Gavin Newsom, former President Clinton and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York also joined Mr. Tran on the campaign trail in the weeks before the election. .
The campaign was called “red bait” after Steele’s campaign sent mailers in Vietnamese to homes in Little Saigon that featured Tran’s image next to the hammer and sickle emblems of the Chinese Communist Party and Mao Zedong. Suspicion was evident.
Steele’s campaign said the Tran campaign ran a Vietnamese-language ad on Facebook accusing Steele’s husband of “selling access” to the Chinese Communist Party, and that Steele would not stand up to China. He said he claimed he could not be trusted.
Tran’s victory is a significant victory for Democrats, who have fought to flip five competitive seats held by Republicans in California, more than in any other state. Republicans were pushing to flip the Orange County coastal district represented by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine).
Democrat Dave Ming defeated Republican Scott Baugh in a high-stakes race for Porter’s seat, defeating Democrat George in Los Angeles County’s Antelope Valley, a district represented by Republican Rep. Mike Garcia. Mr. Whitesides reversed.
In the agricultural Central Valley, Republican Rep. David Valadao easily won reelection over Democrat Rudy Salas. The San Joaquin Valley race between Democrat Gray and U.S. Rep. Duarte, who won by 564 votes two years ago, remains a close call.
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