Former President Bill Clinton was the special guest at SoCal AAPI Day of Action, sponsored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on Oct. 26, speaking in support of two candidates in Orange County.
He joined a rally and canvas for Democrats Derek Tran (45thCongressional District) at the Carpenters Union Training Center in Buena Park and State Sen. Dave Min (47thCongressional District) at Westmont Elementary School in Westminster.
The 45th District includes Fountain Valley, Westminster, Garden Grove, Cypress, Buena Park, Cerritos, Artesia, La Palma, Placentia, Hawaiian Gardens, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, and parts of Brea, Lakewood, Fullerton and Yorba Linda. The district is 39% Asian and Little Saigon, the nation’s largest Vietnamese American enclave, straddles Garden Grove and Westminster.
The 47th District includes Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach and Seal Beach, and portions of Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, and Laguna Woods. AAPIs make up a quarter of the population.
Clinton also attended an “AAPI Voters Matter” reception in Irvine along with actor/comedian Ken Jeong, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Pasadena), chair of the Congresional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and CAPAC members Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.) and Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii).
In a contest between two AAPI candidates, Tran is seeking to unseat Republican incumbent Michelle Steel, a former Orange County supervisor who has served in Congress since January 2023.
At Tran’s rally, Clinton warned about the dangers of a second Trump presidency, according to The Los Angeles Times. “You are the resolution of this,” he told the crowd. “You are the key to whether he represents you in Congress and provides either the last guardrail against a more tyrannical government or the beginning of a new majority.”
The former president also touched on Tran’s ethnicity, saying, “I think it’s inexplicable why the congressional district with the largest number of Vietnamese Americans in the country has never had a Vietnamese representative,” Clinton said.
Steel, Strickland and Rep. Young Kim (R-Mission Viejo), who is also seeking re-election, are the first Korean American women to serve in Congress.
Clinton had a similar message at Min’s rally, according to The Times. “This race that Dave Min has undertaken in a district that is challenging but doable may determine whether there is at least one guardrail if the worst should happen,” he said.
Min, who is competing with Republican Scott Baugh for the seat being vacated by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), has been the target of attack ads by the National Republican Congressional Committee, which have linked him to pedophiles over his endorsement by Equality California, an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. Both Min and Clinton refuted the ads.
Min addressed recent acts of bigotry, including the defacing of his campaign signs with racist slurs and policies by the Huntington Beach City Council that he said target inclusivity. Local officials, including Huntington Beach Councilmembers Rhonda Bolton, Dan Kalmick, and Natalie Moser, along with Ocean View School Board Trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin, attended in support of Min’s message.
Battle in the 45th
“I’m a wife, mother, immigrant, and advocate for American families and businesses,” Steel said in a statement. “I moved to America when I was a teenager. My family started a business from the ground up. I watched my mother struggle with tedious government processes.
“I realized that the government is failing the people who need it most, so I decided to run for office. I’ll never stop advocating for everyday Americans who are being suffocated by bureaucrats that don’t care about them.
“My fight for our country has won me a lot of enemies. The White House, House Democrats, and several far-left have all named me a TOP target. Biden even came to California twice to personally raise money against Republicans like me.”
Steel’s endorsers include Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Assemblymembers Diane Dixon, Kate Sanchez, Laurie Davies, Philip Chen and Tri Ta, and Reps. Kim, Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Tom McClintock, Kevin Kiley, Mike Garcia, Doug LaMalfa, David Valadao and Jay Obernolte.
Tran’s biography on his campaign website reads, in part: “Derek is the son of refugees. His parents fled the Communist regime in Vietnam so that their children could realize the American Dream in Southern California. Through hard work and sacrifice, Derek’s family opened a corner market where Derek worked every day after school.
“At the age of 18, Derek enlisted in the Army to give back to the country that had given him and his family so much. In the military, it didn’t matter if you were a Democrat or a Republican — you worked together to get the job done, and Derek will bring that same mindset to Congress.
“After his time in the military, Derek went to law school to uphold the liberties, individual rights, and rule of law that his parents immigrated to America for. Turning down high paying jobs in corporate law, Derek chose to open up his small business in Orange County and fight for immigrants, workers, survivors of sexual harassment, and consumers.”
Tran’s endorsers include Sen. Alex Padilla, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Reps. Doris Matsui, Josh Harder, Eric Swalwell, Ro Khanna, Zoe Lofgren, Salud Carbajal, Julia Brownley, Adam Schiff, Brad Sherman, Pete Aguilar, Ted Lieu, Sydney Kamlager-Dover, Linda Sanchez, Mark Takano, Robert Garcia, Sara Jacobs, Juan Vargas, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Grace Meng of New York, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, State Sens. Josh Newman and Tom Umbert, and Assemblymembers Sharon Quirk-Silva and Avelino Valencia.
Dueling Attack Ads
In her campaign ads, Steel alleges that as an attorney Tran has repesented “a racist who hung a noose for weeks in his office,” “a man who three women alleged sexually harassed them,” and “a man who made sexually explicit comments to women, and violated store policy with Blacks and Hispanics.” Tran has declined to discuss specific clients and cases.
Tran spokesperson Orrin Evans responded that Steel has supported a national abortion ban and outlawing IVF and contraception, and opposed the Violence Against Women Act “Derek Tran would be happy to contrast his record of standing up for women and survivors of sexual harassment with Michelle Steel’s entire tenure in Congress,” he said.
Tran has linked his opponent to Trump, stating that the former president posted “an unhinged and full-throated endorsement of his acolyte MAGA Michelle Steel on Truth Social.” He also said that Steel is a long-time ally of Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, who has been charged in a bribery and corruption scandal.
The candidates have accused each other of red-baiting, according to ABC 7 News. Mailers sent to voters in the Orange County district by Steel’s campaign attempt to link Tran to Mao Zedong and show Tran with the communist symbol, the hammer and sickle.
“We’re seeing xenophobic attacks by her,” Tran said. “It’s just baseless claims by someone that’s losing and she’s expecting to win based on that messaging. It’s not going to work this time around. I am son of Vietnamese refugees who fled communist Vietnam.”
Steel’s campaign refuted charges by Tran’s campaign, which referenced Wall Street Journaland Orange County Registerreports accusing Shaun Steel, the congresswoman’s husband, of bringing Chinese spies into American politics in exchange for money.
Steel’s campaign said that “crybaby Derek Tran has leveled false and despicable attacks on Michelle Steel’s family, even putting a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) flag in his own advertising, but now sobs when our campaign accurately highlights his connections to communist China.”
Steel recently told a local Vietnamese TV outlet, “I think I am more Vietnamese than my opponent” because she has worked with the Vietnamese American community for more than 30 years. Tran called that statement “insulting and disgraceful.”
Tran’s campaign added, “Steel also was recently caught trying to mislead her Vietnamese constituents about her own immigration story, claiming that her family ‘fled communism too.’ In reality, records show that Steel, who was born after the Korean War, was the daughter of diplomats posted overseas for most of her upbringing, far from the struggles endured by true refugees.”
Second Campaign for Congress
Min, who was an assistant professor at UC Irvine’s School of Law, currently represents the 37thSenate District, which includes portions of Orange County. In 2018 he ran to represent the 45thCongressional District but Porter, a fellow UCI professor, was the eventual winner. He was elected to the State Senate in 2020, narrowly defeating incumbent Republican John Moorlach.
In a statement on his website, Min said, “I’m running for Congress because, as a first-generation Korean American, I want my kids to grow up in the same California that attracted my parents and so many immigrants like them to come plant roots here — where everyone has a fair shot at the American Dream, where women have autonomy over their own bodies, we prioritize our environment and the safety of our children, and where we maintain the spirit of openness and innovation that makes America so special.”
Min’s endorsers include Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Treasurer Fiona Ma, and several Democratic members of Congress, the State Assembly and the State Senate.
Baugh, an attorney, former assemblyman and former chair of the Orange County Republican Party, has said that his priorities are border security, addiction, standing up for victims of crime, balanced budget, no new taxes, rolling back gas taxes, supporting law enforcement, no new offshore drilling, and banning stock trading for members of Congress.
His endorsers include House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, other Republican members of Congress, including Steel and Kim, State Sen. Janet Nguyen and Assemblymember Phillip Chen.
The attack ad referenced by Clinton and Min at the rally stated that because of legislation Min supported, “sex predators, including the creeps that victimize children, roam free.”
“This is the same playbook that right-wing extremists and their allies have used for decades, perpetuating the harmful and baseless stereotype that LGBTQ+ folks are inherently pedophiles,” said Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, the LGBTQ+ rights group mentioned in the GOP ads.
Baugh has pointed to Min’s 2023 DUI arrest, for which he was sentenced to three years of informal probation. Referring to Min as a “convicted criminal” who can’t hide from his past, Baugh went on to say, “Mr. Min’s record is clear and awful. It has led to an increase in crime in our communities, a loss of respect for law enforcement officers, and a culture of pro-criminal policies that he has finally figured out don’t bode well for his campaign. The truth is Mr. Min will pretend to be tough on crime, but he doesn’t mean it, never has, and never will.”
According to NBC News, Min has called the arrest “the mistake of his life” and has said that it “will never happen again.”
Min has focused on Trump’s endorsement of Baugh via Truth Social: “Scott Baugh can run, but he can’t hide from his record as Trump’s ultimate lackey. He voted for Trump. He raised money for Trump. He stands 100% with Trump. Now, the disgraced former president has rewarded Baugh’s absolute loyalty with a full-throated endorsement.”
Min also linked his opponent to Supervisor Do, whom Baugh has “glowingly endorsed … in the past.”