U.S. House of Representatives
Elections 2024 ,
Dave Min, Will Rollins, and
Adam Schiff in 2024. At the end of 2023, Tran announced that he would enter the 2024 all-party "top two"
primary in California's 45th congressional district.
HuffPost reported that, unlike the other Democratic candidates who lacked financial support, Tran was a significant fundraiser according to
FEC data. it was determined that
Republican incumbent Michelle Steel finished first while Tran had placed second by finishing ahead of Kim Nguyen-Penaloza by 366 votes. Steel was running for a third term in the competitive "battleground district". The
majority-minority district encompasses parts of
Los Angeles and Orange counties including the predominantly Vietnamese cities of
Westminster,
Fountain Valley, and
Garden Grove in
Little Saigon in addition to the predominantly
Asian American communities of
Artesia and
Cerritos. Hence, Tran's campaign emphasized the centrality of his Vietnamese American identity to his bid.
KABC, the Los Angeles
ABC affiliate, reported that the district was 39% Asian. Both Steel and Tran vied for support from the district's Vietnamese community. On October 19, Steel claimed to a Vietnamese TV station,
VietFace TV, that she was "more Vietnamese than my opponent" due to a better understanding of the Vietnamese community. Tran challenged her claim of being more Vietnamese than a son of Vietnamese Americans, noting it was "insulting and disgraceful." The candidates exchanged accusations of
communist sympathies, with some outlets identifying the remarks as
red-baiting. Referencing a 2020
The Wall Street Journal report, Tran accused Steel's husband,
Shawn Steel, of accepting
bribes from the
Chinese Communist Party in exchange for information, stating that Steel thus could not be trusted with political office in the United States. Subsequently, on October 22, the
Los Angeles Times reported that Steel's campaign mailed campaign fliers associating Tran with
Mao Zedong and the
hammer and sickle, warning Tran intended to "take our country back to
socialism". in August of holding
cryptocurrencies, Steel also alleged in a mailer that, despite cryptocurrency being banned in China since 2021, Tran owned "thousands of dollars of cryptocurrency linked to China". The mutual accusations caused sixteen Asian American
nonprofits to write to the Orange County chairs of both political parties that rhetoric that falsely implied Asian American candidates were "
national security threats" should not be used by candidates since it could promote the false narrative of Asian Americans as
perpetual foreigners. In October,
Hakeem Jeffries stumped for Tran at a campaign event in Anaheim, stating that the race would be close. Later in the month,
Bill Clinton also appeared in Orange County to campaign for Tran and
Dave Min. 21 days after the election, Tran held a lead over Steel by 581 votes and had declared victory to
LAist. The next day, when the lead had grown by 32 votes, Steel conceded the district's seat to Tran, and the
Associated Press called the race for Tran. Altogether, Tran defeated Steel in the general election by just 653 votes out of the nearly 316,000 cast, making the race one of the closest in the 2024 election cycle. and appointed to the
Committee on Armed Services and the
Committee on Small Business.
Committee assignments For the 119th Congress: (Executive Board Member) • Congressional Fire Service Caucus • For Country Caucus • Gun Violence Prevention Task Force • Economic Growth & Cost of Living Working Group • Immigration and Border Security Working Group • Reproductive Freedom Caucus • Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition • Youth ChalleNGe Caucus == Political positions ==