5 Asian Americans running for OC's Congressional District 45

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]This is Little Saigon. It's part of District 45 and home to the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam. Many of the campaign signs are for Vietnamese Americans hoping to represent this district. I'm not done serving my community.

[00:00:16]There's a lot more for me to do for them and that's why I'm in this race to run for re-election. In 2024 and by just 653 votes, Derek Tran beat Republican Michelle Steel making him the first Vietnamese-American Congressman to represent District 45. Tran is a son of Vietnamese refugees. But this time Tran faces five opponents. All are Republican and all but one, entrepreneur Mark Leonard, are Asian-American.

[00:00:46]Chung Vo is a retired police officer and former Cerritos mayor. We truly believe that, you know, we worked so hard to flee a communist country to come here for the American values that we got to continue that here. Two Westminster elected officials say they feel they're a better fit for the Vietnamese-American community. City Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen and Council Member Amy Phan West. After redistricting, District 45 gained more of LA County on its map. In all, voting data shows of the 750,000 voters, about 28 to 30% are Latino and 40% are Asian-American.