Congressional District 45's Asian vs. Asian race divides AANHPI community

ANALYSIS

Republican Rep. Michelle Steel, a Korean American, has apparently won the seat for Congressional District 45 in Southern California by running one of the nastiest and hate-filled campaigns in the country against her opponent, Taiwanese American Jay Chen.

A week after voters went to the polls, Steel has 53.8% of the vote to Chen's 46.2%. While the counting of votes is continuing, Steel's lead of about 13,000 votes was enough for the Associated Press Tuesday morning to call the race in Steel's favor.

“I am humbled that voters have given me the opportunity to continue to fight for them in Washington, DC,” Steel said in a statement, according to the Orange County Register. “I have been firm in my commitment to deliver for working class families, and will continue to work to lower taxes, stop inflation, and stand up to Communist China.”

The last reference to "Communist China" typified the Steel campaign strategy which grew relentless in the later weeks of the campaign.

District 45 includes a large portion of Orange County, home of large AANHPI communities, that make up about 37% of the district. This district runs from Brea and Fullerton in north Orange County, out east to “Little India” in Artesia, before heading south to the center of the region’s political gravity in Westminster and Garden Grove — Little Saigon, reportedly the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam. White voters make up about a third of residents.

Steel, a Korean American immigrant, was criticized for running one of the nastiest campaigns in the country by trying to link Chen to the Chinese Communist Party, a Red Scare tactic that apparently played well in the Vietnamese American community, mostly refugees who fled South Vietnam when it fell to North Vietnam.

Chen's grandparents fled communist China to Taiwan. Chen's parents immigrated to the US, where he was raised. He countered the hit pieces with his military record as a US Navy veteran. Veteran groups rallied to his side as did many Chinese American organizations, who feared that Steel's tactic would stir up the "perpetual foreigner" trope, adding fuel to the current spate of attacks against Asian Americans.

While Chen tried attacking Steel for her support for Trump policies and her votes against the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure and the anti-Asian Hate resolution and her support for the Supreme Court's tossing of abortion rights for women, Steel's red-baiting was enough to overcome her voting record.

One of the worst and offensive ads appeared on YouTube showing Chinese men with accents giggling in glee that Jay Chen could get elected with a picture of the Chinese leader posted behind them.

In the weeks before Nov. 8, Red and yellow poster (colors from the PRC's flag) bagan sprouting up throughout the lampposts and fences throughout the district, saying "China's Choice: Jay Chen" and little letters below, "Paid for by Michelle Steel Campaign."

Democratic Asian American lawmakers from neighboring districts like Representatives Mark Takano, Ted Lieu and Judy Chu made appearances on Chen's behalf while GOP House Minority Leader and possibly future House Speaker Kevin McCarthy campaigned for Steel.

Surprisingly absent from the race was the presence of politically active Hollywood celebrities. Their absence is noticeable only because of the proximity of the district to the entertainment capitol, minutes away by freeway. In close races, such as in CD45, every vote counts. Their participation may have swayed young people into voting.

Steel has avoided media events such as public debates or candidate forums. Linking Steel to Trump has been difficult for Chen. Besides McCarthy, no other big-name Republican came to the district on Steel's behalf.

With the AANHPI communities divided between the candidates, other groups may have played an more decisive role in the determining CD45's outcomes.

Orange County has long been a Republican stronghold, an island of conservatism in the Blue sea of the Los Angeles metro region. The Orange County Register endorsed Steel, but the more liberal Los Angeles Times, recommended Chen.

The conservative tradition of Congressional District 45, which encompasses portions of Los Angeles and Orange counties and once the home of the KKK chapter in Southern California, is still a strong element in the district and perhaps tipped the electoral scales towards Steel, whose husband holds a prominent position in California's Republican Party.

What did matter was funding. Steel's campaign collected millions of dollars from the GOP and dark money from conservative PACs, outspending Chen. 

A total of $13.3 million has been invested in this race, $11.4 million raised by the candidates themselves and $1.9 million spent by "independent expenditures." Independent expenditures are when companies and organizations spend to support or oppose candidates but are not connected to the candidates' camapaigns. There are no spending limits.

Steel raised $6.7 million, spent $5.8 million, and had about $1 million on hand, as of October 19, according to OpenSecrets. Chen, raised $4.5 million, spent $4.2 million, and had about $429,000 cash on hand.

The biggest PAC donation was by the conservative Congressional Leadership Fund which gave Steel about $3.3 million, according to OpenSecrets.

One of the positives that may have come out of this race was to show to the political parties how diverse are the groups that fall under the Asian American umbrella term. Vietnamese, because of their history, trend towards the Republicans in contrast to the other AANHPI groups. Korean, Filipino Americans and Pacific Islanders may have conservative religious views on abortion but fall in line with Democrats in support of affirmative action and health care access. Small business owners in the AANHPI communities may be concerned about economic issues, but they support abortion rights and gun control.

According to several polls by the Pew Research Center, the Carnegie Endowment and APAI Vote, AANHPI are politically savvy and enthusiastic about voting but the major parties need to increase outreach to them and not take them for granted.

There is still a strong tendency to support Democratic policies but there is also a small, but growing movement to the right by some of the recent immigrants in contrast to more established AANHIP communities.

All this to say, the increasingly influential AANHPI communities can influence political outcomes in certain key regions and states. They will register to vote. They will come out and vote, but the Democrats and Republicans need to reach out to them where they live, not in a patronizing manner and in the more than two dozen languages they understand. 

That's no easy task with the 2024 campaign only two years away.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a developing story. Check back later for updates. For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Midterm elections: Negative campaigns with racist videos and mailers target AANHPI voters

ANALYSIS

With less than a week to go to the Midterm elections, it's down-and-dirty time as a deluge of negative and misleading information is being unleashed on American voters with some campaigns zeroing in on the important Asian American electorate.

One ad campaign, in particular, is attracting attention for its gross misleading message blaming President Biden for two-year surge of racist attacks on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Another ad by Republican Rep. Michelle Steel linking Jay Chen, her Taiwanese American opponent, to communist China is so bad that it might be backfiring against the conservative incumbent representing parts of Orange County, California.

Leading up to the Nov. 8 Midterms, Asian American voters across North Carolina have been receiving hateful, racist mailers aimed at suppressing their vote and subduing the political power of the fastest-growing racial demographic in the state.

While anti-Asian rhetoric has been prevalent since early 2020, this blatant piece of disinformation is the first time Asian Americans in North Carolina have been the target of suppression efforts around an election.

“This mail piece is evidence that bad actors fear our growing political power.” said Chavi Khanna Koneru, Executive Director of North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT) and NCAAT in Action. “Asian Americans had record turnout in the 2020 election (72%) and so far Asian American early vote turnout is on track to exceed early vote turnout compared to the 2018 midterm elections.”

This attempt at suppression comes after recent Census results show exponential growth in the nation’s Asian American population. Here, in the battleground state of North Carolina, the Asian American voting bloc can determine the outcome of toss-up races statewide.

AANHPI voters are finally getting attention from political campaigns, but not the kind they wanted.

Over the past week, mailers using racist and inflammatory rhetoric have also been received in Arizona, Virginia, California, Michigan, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas. 

Digital and radio advertisements have also popped up across the country, purposefully targeting multiple underrepresented groups including the Latinx, transgender, and Asian communities. This mail piece repurposes an old tactic historically used to drive a wedge between Asians and other racial communities of color in the United States.

RELATED: 

•  Fake news seeks to divide, confuse the AANHPI communities.
• AANHPI voters are increasingly important electorate 

“Right-wing racist actors are exploiting the fact that Asian Americans have received limited voter contact by political parties by using manipulative ads to keep them from voting,” added Koneru. 

According to recent polling results conducted by NCAAT and the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at UC San Diego, roughly 161,000 Asian American voters in North Carolina (61%), have never been contacted by any political party about this year’s election. “These false ads could undermine the faith Asian American voters have in candidates this year and beyond.”

The source of much of the racist and misleading mailers were sent by the American First Legal Foundation, the conservative organization founded by Stephen Miller, author of Trump's racist immigration policies. As the architect behind the Trump Administration’s family separation policy, Miller has a long history of peddling racist hate and division against the vulnerable and underrepresented.

“If Miller is targeting our communities to discourage us from voting in the midterm elections this year, then it’s not going to work,” said Allison Chan, a long-time Durham voter who received the postcard. According to NCAAT’s poll, 50% of Asian Americans are more motivated to vote in this year’s election compared to previous elections.

Miller's group’s latest ad, posted online Saturday, seeks to rewrite history by blaming President Biden for the alarming surge of racist attacks on Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic, which first became noticeable in March 2020 when then-President Donald Trump started calling Covid-19 “the Chinese virus” and “the Kung flu.”

The egregious misinformation in the ad, which is titled, “Why Don’t Asian Lives Matter to Joe Biden and His Left-Wing Allies?” seeks to exploit AANHPI outrage over the violence with distressing images of 17 attacks on Asian Americans since 2020, as a narrator insists that the blame lies with Biden and his "liberal" prosecuting attorneys.

The ad shows a series of videotaped attacks on Asian Americans but cover up or neglect to show the dates of the incidents. As it turns out, most of the attacks occurred during Trump's presidency.

The accusation that Biden' and the Democrats' “left-wing prosecutors who won’t prosecute — liberals freeing predators,” is patently false. In most of the attacks, the perpetrators have been arrested with some charged with hate crime enhancements.

ASIAN VS. ASIAN

In Orange County, California, one of the most closely watched contests in the AANHPI community pits Korean American Steel against Taiwanese American Chen vying to represent the 45th District, which is home to Little Saigon.

Jay Chen, left, and Michelle Steel battle for the 45th Congressional District in California.

The ad used by Steel against Chen is meant to appeal to the large community of recent immigrants who fled Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War. The first-generation immigrants are generally more conservative and anti-communist than other Asian immigrants.. Among all Asian American groups, the Vietnamese American voters are more likely to vote Republican.

The ad features a group of Asian men, assumably Chinese "comrades", sitting at a table in front of the picture of Chinese President Xi Jinping. "He's one of use," one man says referring to Chen.

An anti-Chen mailer sent out to voters in the 45th Congressional District has an image of Chen  purportedly holding the “Communist Manifesto” while teaching a class full of children.

“There is an ethical issue to using these kinds of tactics and negative advertising that crosses into malicious campaigning,” said Long T. Bui, an associate professor of global and international studies at UC Irvine to the Los Angeles Times. “The racially charged messages reinforce stereotypes of all Chinese people as spies and permanent foreigners.”

The ad has been denounced by Chinese American groups including the Committee of 100 and the Asian Americans for Good Government, which have pulled their support for Steel. In a statement, the latter PAC stated that its members expressed extreme concern regarding the “accusations, negative advertisement, and red baiting that are coming from the 45th congressional race.”

While that particular ad has been pulled, red and yellow posters have been popping up throughout the district calling Chen "China's choice."

Chen, a military veteran and a Navy reservist, told the LA Times that his grandmother fled to Taiwan from China under communist rule, called Steel’s attempt to link him to the Peoples Republic of China “over the top” and said it’s “ridiculous” for her to accuse him of being a communist.

“I served in the Middle East and I’ve served on the Korean peninsula to confront communist aggression,” he told the LA Times. “I think what she’s doing right now is really dangerous. The fact that a sitting member of Congress would try to incite this kind of anti-Asian hate to try to further the stereotype that Asians cannot be trusted when she herself is Asian — an immigrant from Korea — it just baffles the mind.”

The GOP has poured tons of money into the campaigns in Orange County, traditionally a Republican stronghold in blue California. The county  also includes Republican Young Kim in the right-leaning 40th Congressional District, who is running against Pakistani American Democrat Asif Mahmood. 

GOP WOO ASIAN AMERICANS

Realistically, with Trump's recent comments calling the wife of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnel's wife, Elaine Chao, "his China-loving wife, Coco Chow," along with threats of  reducing, if not eliminating, Social Security and Medicare, and a promise to reduce taxes for the ultra-rich, Republicans will have a hard time convincing AANHPI voters to switch party preferences.

In 2022 the AANHPI vote was critical in close races in California, Georgia, New Jersey, and Nevada and made Republicans nervous in Texas,  Arizona and Wisconsin. As the fastest growing electorate and despite a relatively low voter turnout, one that community activists hope to reverse, AANHPI voters are being closely watched and wooed.

Swinging AANHPI voters to the right might be a rough row to hoe. Nevertheless, Republicans want to woo just enough of the AANHPI vote away from the Democrats to weaken their impact in districts and states where their swing votes have shown to be the difference between winning and losing. By taking some of the AANHPI votes, (and the same strategy is being used against Latino voters), the GOP hopes to  neutralize its impact enough in order to eke their way to victory in close races.

Nadia Belkin, the executive director of Asian American Power Network, a left-leaning coalition of state-based groups that is spending $10 million this fall to turn out Asian Americans in California and swing states, told the Washington Post that Republicans’ messaging on issues such as education and public safety “is pulling the Asian American community towards them” and in some cases making Asian Americans “feel seen in a way that progressives have not.”

But she was sharply critical of the strategy some on the extreme right are using. “Republicans are not shy about using this really divisive, race-baiting language to try and court us,” Belkin told WaPo.

The dark cloud hovering over all the country's close campaigns where AANHPI voters can determine the outcomes is Donald Trump. The former talk show host and White House occupant insisted on using the terms "China Virus,"  "Wuhan Flu" and joked about the "Kung Flu," which many in the AANHPI communities believe that it was open season to attack Asian Americans. His recent racial slurs directed at Elaine Chao did nothing to dispel that belief. 

For many voters who have not cast their ballots yet and perhaps waiting until Nov. 8, Trump may be the deciding factor. A Politico/Morning Consult poll released in early October found that 71% of AANHPI adults blame Donald Trump for the discrimination against the community — the highest blame directed toward an individual.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Impeaching Donald Trump: AAPI members of Congress vote along party lines

SCREEN CAPTURE / C-SPAN

Rep. Ted Lieu will manage Donald Trump's impeachment in front of the U.S. Senate.

On Korean American Day, the four Korean American Congressmembers split along party lines on the initiative to impeach Donald Trump. The day commemorates the arrival of the first Koreans to the U.S. in 1903.

Democrats Andy Kim (NJ) and Marilyn Strickland (WA) voted Wednesday (Jan. 13)  for impeachment and California Republicans Young Kim and Michelle Steel voted no.

With a vote of 232 to 197, the House of Representatives charged Trump with "incitement of insurrection" for his role in the violent takeover byTrump supporters and white supremacists of the U.S. Capitol building that left five people dead and terrorized lawmakers as they sought to confirm the Electoral College votes that gave President-elect Joe Biden a victory last Nov. 3.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Rep. Ted Lieu, D-CA, to manage the impeachment and argue for conviction in front of the Senate.

Unlike 13 months ago when the House voted for the first impeachment of Trump and the vote was strictly along party lines, 10 Republicans crossed party lines this time to vote with the Democrats, including Rep. Liz Cheney, the third highest ranking Republican in the House.

With the exception of first-term lawmakers Young Kim and Steel, the other  AAPI Representatives are Democrats and voted for impeachment along party lines. Besides the aforementioned Strickland, Andy Kim. They include: Californians Ted Lieu, Ro Khanna, Mark Takano, Judy Chu, Ami Bera, Doris Matsui and newly installed Kai Kahele of Hawaii, Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Grace Meng of New York, Virginia's Bobby Scott and Stephanie Murphy of Florida.

"The bipartisan vote reaffirms that security of our democracy is our first priority," said Congressman Scott, who is of Filipino descent. "I hope the Senate will convict/remove Donald Trump and we can move forward from this dark chapter."

“It is not with joy that I have voted to impeach the President for a second time. I am taking a stand to ensure the future for our children and grandchildren," said Rep. Matsui. "When we are asked by future generations what we did, we must be able to tell them that we fulfilled our obligation to keep our democracy strong. (Trump) remains a clear and present danger to our nation as long as he is able to hold elected office, and that is why we acted to impeach him immediately.”

“Today’s impeachment is not about dividing this country. It’s about uniting all patriotic Americans against the unconstitutional actions of an out-of-control president—a president who incited insurrection against our great nation,” said Florida's Murphy. (Murphy's full statement is below.)

Trump is the only U.S. President to be impeached twice. Trump's was impeached in 2019 for trying to get Ukraine officials to dig up dirt of alleged corrupt business dealings = by Hunter Biden, the son of President-elect Joe Biden. The allegations, which proved untrue, were, nevertheless, raised by Trump against Biden during the campaign. The Senate rejected the impeachment.

The current charge of impeachment against Trump claims Trump "incited an insurrection" against Congress when he spoke at a rally of people who believed Trump's lies claiming that the 2020 Presidential election was rigged and that he actually won. 

The "incitement of insurrection" article of impeachment was introduced Monday by three House Democrats: Ted Lieu of California , Jaime Raskin of Maryland and David Cicilline of Rhode Island.

Lieu got the impeachment ball rolling while insurrectionists were roaming the halls of the Capitol after breaking through the lines of overwhelmed police officers  He texted the Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee about the need to impeach.

“I was just super pissed off,” said Lieu, an officer in the Air Force Reserves and represents a district that includes parts of  Los Angeles and Hollywood.

The impeachment is like an indictment and the hearing before the U.S. Senate is like a trial. Chief Justice Roberts will preside and two-thirds of the Senators present is needed for a conviction. The Senate is not set to meet until Jan.1 19, a day before Biden's inauguration so the articles of impeachment would likely be presented to the newly constituted Senate that will be controlled by the Democrats.

A former president can still be found guilty by the Senate. While the main penalty for a guilty verdict in an impeachment trial is removal from office, senators could vote to bar Trump from holding office in the future. That's an important incentive for both parties becuase Trump has not ruled out running for president in 2024. He could also lose his six-figure pension and other post-presidential perks.

The final text for impeachment states: “President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as president, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.”

Four new AAPI members of Congress "representing" in the House of Representatives

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Rep. Marilyn Strickland wore a traditional Hanbok for her swearing-in ceremony.

Four new AAPI members of the 117th Congress were sworn in Sunday, joining the 15 re-elected House members and two sitting Senators of Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage.

The four included the first three Korean American women elected to Congress: Kim Young and Michelle Steele from Southern California's Orange County and Marilyn Strickland from the state of Washington.

Kai Kahele won Hawaii's District 2 seat previously occupied by Tulsi Gabbard, who opted to concentrate on her unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for President rather than campaign for re-election. Kahele's election marks the return of a Native Hawaiian to Congress since Sen. Daniel Akaka died while in office in 2018.

For her swearing-in, Strickland, whose father is African American, honored her Korean American mother by wearing the Hanbok, a traditional Korean garb worn during significant events.

“Today, I was honored to be sworn into one of the most historically diverse Congresses in history, joining a record number of women, and women of color, serving in our Democratic Majority. As a woman of both Korean American and African American descent, it was deeply personal to wear my Hanbok, which not only symbolizes my heritage and honors my mother, but also serves as a larger testament to the crucial importance of diversity in our nation, state, and the People’s House,"  Strickland stated in a press release.

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Hawaii's Rep. Kai Kahele brought a bit of the islands with him for his swearing-in ceremony.

For his swearing in ceremony, festooned in a bevy of Hawaiian leis, Kahale used the same Bible that was used by the late Akaka, the first Native Hawaiian elected to Congress.  

He thanked his supporters and fellow Hawaii Representative EdCase, and said, “For those of you whom I don’t know yet, I hope to gain your trust and confidence. As your representative, I will work across the aisle when possible, and I will fight for our kupuna and our keiki to ensure a better Hawaii for all.”

“It was incredibly emotional and was just beaming with pride and I’m sure Senator Akaka, with my dad, so many others that have come before us, were just looking down and smiling,” Kahele said.

“In Washington, I will practice the important values we hold dear, including integrity, honor, cooperation and aloha in all I do,” Kahele said.

Symbolically, in a powerful moment, Kahele's first official words spoken in the House chambers were spoken in Hawaiian. He said, “Lunamaka’āinana ʻo Nancy Pelosi.” (Congratulations to the People's Leader, Nancy Pelosi.)

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The first three Korean American women, from left, Young KIm, Michelle Steel and
Marilyn Strickland,  elected to Congress met during orientation last year.

California's Kim drew criticism from some in the Republican Party when she criticized Donald Trump's use of racial slurs in referring to the coronavirus pandemic and some of his positions on immigration. “I do hope that my voice can be heard,” she said, “and that I can represent not only my district but also represent the underserved and underheard communities like the Asian American voice.”

Steel, whose husband is a high-ranking official in California's Republican Party, drew support from a lot of Orange County's conservatives when she criticized mandating the wearing of masks in public and the health restrictions placed on businesses.

“This is my American dream and I am honored and humbled to serve my community as one of the first Korean American women ever elected to Congress," said Steel in a press release. "Taking the oath of office to represent the nation that has blessed me with so many opportunities is a moment I will never forget. This is a responsibility that I will never take for granted, especially as so many families and businesses continue to fight back against the COVID-19 pandemic."

The four brings the total number of AAPI Congress members to 21, the most to serve at one time.

Two Asian American women lead GOP resurgence in Orange County; TJ Cox counting on late ballots

Young Kim, left, and Michelle Steel leading the charge for Repulicans in Orange County.

California is still a deep blue state and Democrats are not in danger of losing their grip on the nation's largest state. However, the GOP is not giving up if three Congressional races involving AAPI candidates are any indication. 

In 2018, Californians flipped seven Republican district to Democrat. This year, one returned to the GOP and two Republicans are leading Democratic incumbents.

Michelle Steel, a Korean American and chair of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, won her District 45 race against incumbent Rep. Harley Rouda, who won his seat in 2018.

Rouda issued a conceded late Tuesday morning with the following statement:.

"We did not win this election,'' Rouda said. "And while it isn't the outcome we had hoped for, it's never been more important for our leaders to hear the voice of the people, and to accept their judgment. I do."

Steel leads 50.9%-49.1% and 197,256-189,910. Steel also led 50.9%-49.1% entering Monday's count, 196,208-189,235, a margin of 6,973.

In Congressional District 39, in another part of Orange County, former state Assemblymember Young Kim is holding a slim lead over Democratic incumbent Rep. Gil Cisneros, with 51% of the vote vs. 49%.

The race is a rematch of 2018, when Cisneros narrowly defeated Young. 

If Young wins, she would join Marilyn Strickland, who won her Washington's District 10 seat and Michelle Steel as Korean American members of Congress. Prior to this election, there had never been a Korean American women Congressmembers.

Rep. TJ Cox is gaining on his Republican challenger.

Rep. TJ Cox, one of only two Congressmembers of Filipino descent, is behind challenger David Valadao by about 4,000 votes, but with only 46% of the votes tallied so far, the counting is far from over. 

The vote counting in District 21 has come to a temporary halt due to a COVID-19 exposure in Kings County, part of which lies in the district. Out of a concern of caution, the Kings County Elections Department was forced to close until Nov, 21. 

The pause in counting occurred just as the race was tightening.

Valadao is now leading with only 51.4% of the vote, compared to T.J. Cox's (D) 48.6%. According to the California Secretary of State's Election Results page. Last week, Valadao led 56% to 49%.

In addition to the ballots left to process, the counties could also still receive ballots that were postmarked by Nov. 3 and are received by Nov. 20.

“We still necessarily don’t have all the ballots in our office yet,” Kern County Clerk Mary Bedard said.

In 2018, when Cox beat Valadao, the race was the last race in the country to be decided. It looks like the same thing will happen again.

"We’ve been through this before," said Cox. "In 2018, my race wasn’t settled for 30 days. And in 2020, we’re in much the same situation. We owe it to the Valley to get this right, ensure each and every vote is counted, no matter who wins."

CORRECTION: Earlier versions of this story misidentified the ethnicity of Michelle Steel.

GOP hopes a pair of Asian American women can flip California's Orange County

Young Kim, left and Michelle Steel, GOP congressional hopefuls in Orange County

ANALYSIS

For decades, Orange County has been a Republican island in a sea of blue. In a dramatic turnaround, in the 2018 midterms the GOP lost the four Congressional seats representing the Southern California county in a Democratic tidal wave.

In response to their huge defeat in 2018, Republicans are fighting back with two Asian American candidates as their vanguard with the hope of energizing the conservatives among Asian Americans.

Former state Assembly member Young Kim is challenging Rep. Gill Cisneros in a rematch of 2018 for the 39th Congressional District, Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel is running against U.S. Rep. Harley Rouda, D-Newport Beach for District 48. 

The other two Orange County congressional districts are District 45 held by Democrat Rep. Katie Porter and District 46, which is held by Democrat Rep. Lou Correa.

Orange County, a once a bastion of conservatism, fell to the Democrats when Democrats repulsed by Donald Trump's policies and anti-California sentiments, inspired Democrats to flock to the polls in 2018. However, Orange County's results could not have happened if a good portion of usually Republican voters had not voted for Democratic newcomers over the better established Republican candidates.

"My candidacy, I think it would really excite the base, excite the Asian American community," Kim said. Her district is probably the tightest of the four Orange County districts.

A huge migration of first-generation immigrants from Asia since the 1990s helped augment the white conservatives who dominated the county's voting rolls for so long.

Asian Americans are California's fastest-growing electorate, and in Orange County more than 400,000 are eligible to vote.

"Little Saigon" the cultural center of the Vietnamese American community is located in Orange County. Vietnamese American voters, most of whom fled when South Vietnam fell to North Vietnam, have historically gone Republican because they believe the GOP is more anti-communist than the Democrats.

Breaking Down Orange County by Race

What has happened is that the children of those refugees have grown up in the U.S. and like their peers of other ethnic groups, are more progressive in their political positions.

Filipino American Republicans are particularly active in the county, having recently held a loud car caravan through Asian American neighborhoods and business districts that drew media attention.

Korean American entrepreneurs who fled Los Angeles' Koreatown after the Rodney King riots for the perceived safety of the suburbs established mom-and-pop businesses in the communities.

RELATED:  Asian American progressives find a voice in Orange County

In California's "jungle" primary last March 3, Kim beat Cisneros by more than 2,000 votes, with 48.4% of the vote. The two top vote-getters qualified to run against each other this November.

But it is also known that Democrats are likely to skip the midterms while Republicans can depend on their voters to turn out. This November, with a future President on the line, Democrats will likely flock to the polls. That doesn't bode well for Republicans in California, which sent only seven Republicans to Congress. The state's other 45 members of Concgress are Democrats.

Additionally, Asian Americans of all ages are trending Democratic since Trump's election, according to AAPI Data. Democrats' positions on jobs, health care, education, environment and gun control are more in line with the younger generation's values  while the Dems' policies on immigration and healthcare attract the elders.

That bodes well for first-term Congressmember Cisneros, even though he has been tagged as "vulnerable" against the formidable Kim. He is not taking the Asian American vote for granted.

He points out that his staff in his Washington, D.C. and Fullerton offices can speak Mandarin, Korean and Tagalog. His campaign manager-turned-chief of staff is of Chinese descent, while his spokesman is Filipino American.

"We're going to continue to work hard to make sure that we get them out to vote and let them know that I'm going to be the one in Washington who's going to really represent them and their values," the Latino American representative told LAist.

If Cisneros candidacy represents the new Orange County, Kim represents the Old Guard. As an aide to Rep. Ed Royce and a legislator in Sacramento, Kim has the political experience to challenge Cisneros but the albatross around her neck is the Republican Party itself.

The road to Washington is a bit rockier for Steel. Her candidacy has been dogged by revelations that her husband, Shawn Steel, is at the center of a scandal for his work to allegedly open doors for Chinese foreign nationals to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations to Trump and the RNC’s reelection efforts.

In addition, her fellow Orange County Supervisors have accused her of using public funds for campaigning and question the award of a 35-year contract to one of her biggest donors.

Steel also has the dubious distinction of being the target of the nation's first Vietnamese language political ad put up by the Democrats. The 30-second ad accuses the candidate of corruption and “rampant misconduct,” and airs on the Asian cable outlet VietFaceTV as part of the Democrats' initial $45,000 ad buy.