It was an Orange County congressional seat that served as a catalyst for Democrats’ return to power in the House in 2018.
Six years later, the party aims to replicate that success by flipping one key congressional seat and holding another in Orange County.
That goal brought former President Bill Clinton to Orange County on Saturday, Oct. 26, where he stumped for Democrats Derek Tran and state Sen. Dave Min, who are locked in tight races that could decide control of the House for the next two years.
In Buena Park, a majority-minority city in California’s 45th congressional district, where Tran is vying to unseat two-term incumbent Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Seal Beach, the former president said his visit is a deeply emotional moment for him.
Tran is aiming to become the first Vietnamese American member of Congress to represent Orange County’s Little Saigon, considered the largest Vietnamese enclave outside of Vietnam, with Westminster at its heart.
Elected as the 42nd president in 1992, Clinton normalized relations with Vietnam three years later, marking a significant milestone in the post-war relationship between the two countries.
Calling that one of his proudest achievements, Clinton, 78, gestured to Tran, saying, “This is what I always dreamed of.”
“It’s inexplicable why the congressional district with the largest number of Vietnamese hasn’t had a Vietnamese representative,” said Clinton during a speech lasting about half an hour. “We’re about to fix that.”
The Vietnamese vote may be the margin of victory in Little Saigon, where voter behavior — perhaps unlike anywhere else in Orange County — has fluctuated strongly in the past decade or so. Many neighborhoods, particularly in Garden Grove and Westminster, supported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 but switched to backing former President Donald Trump in 2020. In the March primary, voters from this region again leaned toward Trump.
Tran leaned heavily into his immigrant bona fides and shared his personal story with the friendly crowd of several hundred gathered at the local carpenter’s union hall.
Growing up, “we relied on government assistance,” said Tran, the son of Vietnamese refugees. “There were times when I felt ashamed watching my mom using food stamps, what I thought were fake money, to buy groceries.”
Also in Buena Park Saturday morning were Reps. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena; Mark Takano, D-Riverside; Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii; and Marilyn Strickland, D-Washington.
Strickland, along with Steel and Rep. Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills, made history in 2020 as the first Korean American women elected to the House.
On Saturday, she accused Steel of red-baiting, a political tactic that involves accusing individuals or groups of having communist sympathies. Steel’s campaign has distributed mailers depicting Tran in front of a large hammer-and-sickle emblem of the Chinese Communist Party, labeling him a “socialist agent.”
“His opponent is running racist ads from the same old playbook, but we are not going to let this prevail,” said Strickland. “Representation matters but it only matters if you’re going to fight for your people and do the right thing.”
In the race that has grown more volatile by the day, Tran’s campaign has also targeted Steel over her husband Shawn Steel for allegedly working with Chinese nationals to influence the Trump administration.
On a lighter note, references to the Dodgers were aplenty in Buena Park, especially following their victory in the first game of the World Series against the New York Yankees.
Calling the victory an “omen,” Takano said it signals the “beginning of a blue wave.” The only boos from the crowd came when Clinton, whose wife Hillary Clinton served as a New York senator, admitted that he is a Yankees fan.
Later Saturday, in Westminster, Clinton spoke to an electric crowd at Westmont Elementary. He acknowledged Min’s immigrant background — if elected, Min would become the third Korean American sent to Congress from Orange County — saying, “Diverse groups make better decisions than homogenous ones.”
“And it turns out as Mr. Ohtani showed us last night, they make better baseball teams,” he said to cheers.
While the center of gravity for California’s 47th congressional district is along Orange County’s coastline, the district also includes areas on the fringes of some Little Saigon communities, including parts of Fountain Valley and Westminster.
“It’s almost impossible for us to win the House majority without these two seats,” said Clinton.
“This race that Min has undertaken in a district that is challenging but doable may determine whether there is one guardrail should the worst happen,” he said, pointing to the possibility of Trump winning the presidency and Republicans taking the majority in the House and Senate.
An independent survey of 3,700 voters — conducted by researchers from the USC, Cal State Long Beach and Cal Poly Pomona from Sept. 14-21 in some of the country’s most competitive House races — found candidates in the central Orange County seat CA-45 and the coastal seat CA-47 are virtually tied.
As Election Day approaches, both races have seen millions of dollars invested by both parties and outside groups. In fact, the contest between Steel and Tran is among the most expensive House races in the country, with over $20.6 million in outside spending.
But unlike in CA-45, where Democrats have a voter registration advantage, CA-47 features nearly equal numbers of registered Republicans and Democrats — with Republicans holding a slight edge — along with nearly a quarter of registered voters who do not identify with any party.
When asked about his message to Republicans in the district, Min said that if they align with the GOP because they believe Democrats raise taxes too much or aren’t tough on crime, then he is likely their candidate.
“I’m opposed to tax increases on Orange County’s working families. I’m someone who has a strong record on opposing crime in the state Senate and who is fiscally sound,” said Min, who’s running against former GOP Assemblymember Scott Baugh.
In Westminster, Clinton and Min were joined by a slate of local candidates, including several running for Ocean View School District; 67th Assembly candidate Dom Jones; 70th Assembly candidate Jimmy Pham; Frances Marquez, who’s running for Board of Supervisors; Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine; and three Huntington Beach City Councilmembers, Dan Kalmick, Natalie Moser and Rhonda Bolton.
Baugh, in a statement Saturday, said: “Convicted criminal Dave Min has been campaigning to win the hearts of (the) Washington, D.C., liberal elite, while I am focused on addressing what the voters care about — high inflation and rising crime rates.”
“Sleazy trial lawyer Derek Tran made a fortune working for sexual predators, filing frivolous lawsuits, discrediting the victims and blaming the women,” said Lance Trover, a spokesperson for Steel’s campaign, referring to Tran’s work as an attorney. “Clinton, too, should be questioned as to why he believes it’s smart to support someone who chose to sue companies on behalf of predators and a racist, not just represent them as a criminal defense lawyer.”
Clinton, who has been traveling across the country rallying for Vice President Kamala Harris and several down-ballot Democrats, is the latest high-profile Democrat to hit Orange County in the leadup to Election Day. Earlier this month, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stumped for Tran in Anaheim, and Speaker Mike Johnson participated in campaign events for House Republican candidates.
