Democrat Derek Tran has defeated incumbent Republican Michelle Steel for a House of Representatives seat representing California’s Orange County and Los Angeles projects, NBC News, after a contentious race that focused on the candidates’ Asian American identity and the use of aggressive anti-China messages.
Tran, an Army veteran, narrowly won in a race that came down to just a few hundred votes. His victory over Steel turns the 45th Congressional District blue, making it one of two districts to do so in a state that has largely shifted to the right.
The results come after an expensive race that saw more than $34 million spent in the district, according to OpenSecrets, an organization that tracks political spending. Tran has performed better with voters in Los Angeles County, where he had a significant lead over Steel. But the race is tighter in Orange County, the largest part of the district, where voters have repeatedly switched between red and blue in recent election cycles.
During their campaigns, Tran and Steel have aggressively courted Asian Americans, who make up 39% of the population as the area’s largest racial demographic. The pair have opened up about their own backgrounds in an attempt to establish themselves as the best representatives of the group.
Steel, 69, who in 2020 became one of the first three Korean American women elected to Congress, immigrated to the U.S. in her early 20s and opened a clothing store with her family. She previously served as a supervisor and chair of the Orange County Board of Supervisors before running for Congress.
“From the moment I came to the United States, I knew that giving back to the country that welcomed me with open arms would be part of my future,” Steel said in a post to X on Wednesday. “The journey to work for legal immigrants and struggling families brought me to a place I never imagined – and for which I will always be grateful – the United States Congress.”
“I owe a debt of gratitude to my supporters, my staff, my family, my daughters and especially my husband, Shawn, for supporting me through endless campaigns. To my volunteers, we would never have gotten this far without your tireless efforts,” she continued. “And to the voters: thank you.”
Tran, 44, the son of Vietnamese refugees, is a newcomer to running for public office. After serving in the military, Tran worked as a consumer rights attorney and currently serves on the board of the Consumer Attorneys of California.
Tran’s Vietnamese heritage has been central to his campaign in a race with both candidates vying for the Vietnamese electorate, the largest Asian ethnicity in Orange County. Steel said in an interview with VietFace TV in October that she is “more Vietnamese than my opponent.”
“My opponent may have a Vietnamese name, but I understand the Vietnamese community,” Steel said.
Tran described the comments as “deplorable and insulting to our entire Vietnamese American community.”
“My father lost his first wife and four children when he escaped Vietnam,” Tran wrote on X. “Michelle cannot steal our identities or experiences.”
While operating on different platforms, the two contenders both turned heavily to anti-communist and anti-Chinese messaging to win over the Vietnamese community, a largely refugee population that has reported in the past that their voices are informed, in part, by experiences of flight Communism. Tran has vowed to stand firm against “Chinese communist rule.” Steel similarly said she was committed to “standing up to communist China.”
The reporting has divided Asian Americans in the district, with voters and organizations criticizing the candidates, saying they were “red” or accusing each other of having communist ties in attacks. Don Luong, a history teacher and former voter in Orange County, said the back and forth has distracted from the candidates’ actual platforms.
“I think it’s disrespectful to me as a voter, as an American, because you can just throw out these slogans that are really emotional,” Luong said. “We don’t even talk about their problems or anything.”
Despite their shared stance on communism, the candidates have traded blows on the subject and connected each other to China through mailers and advertisements.
Steel has linked Tran to socialism in previous mailers. Tran did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment, but he previously labeled Steel’s ads as “xenophobic.” He had also posted Facebook ads linking Steel’s husband to Chinese spies, based on a 2020 Wall Street Journal report.
Steel’s campaign did not elaborate on the redbaiting allegations, but pointed to an earlier letter to Tran condemning his accusations that Steel was not a refugee and was not fleeing communism.
Luong said that while red baiting can be effective among older Asian Americans, especially those who fled Vietnam themselves, it is not attractive to all voters in the area. And as younger generations become more politically active, Luong said candidates will have to move away from relying on anti-communist and anti-China rhetoric to make a difference.
“People my age, I’m in my 40s now, everyone sees the red food,” Luong said. “They see it for what it is.”
In an open letter signed by more than a dozen groups, nonprofit leaders called on both parties in Orange County to warn candidates against using rhetoric that “falsely implies that political candidates of Asian descent or those perceived to be that they are of Asian descent pose threats to national security. ”
“There is no excuse for political candidates using racist scapegoats to attack their opponents,” the letter said. “Voters see through the scapegoat and look for solutions, not finger-pointing. Words have consequences, and the consequences can be and have been fatal.”
Trans’s victory marks a rare shift to the left in a state that is largely moving to the right. Notably, California voters also showed a shift toward more conservative crime policies.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price were ousted in the races earlier this month by about 2-1, largely due to voters’ dissatisfaction with the Bay Area’s sense of safety . California voters also overwhelmingly supported Proposition 36, which increases penalties for certain crimes, and they rejected a ban on forced labor in any form, including prisons.
In addition, Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks won re-election in her House race for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, NBC News also predicted Wednesday. She narrowly fended off Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan, retaining her seat by less than one percentage point. Miller-Meeks also faced Bohannan in 2022, but won by a wider margin of almost seven percentage points.
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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
