The two Republicans named Nguyen entered the race for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors as blips on the establishment's screen: He an obscure school board member, she a neophyte councilwoman.
Against them stood candidates anointed by the Republican and Democratic machines -- as well as the wisdom that in immigrant-rich central Orange County, party loyalties won elections.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday February 13, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 41 words Type of Material: Correction
Vietnamese voters: An article in Saturday's Section A about the rise of Vietnamese American political power in Orange County gave the number of people of Vietnamese descent in the county as both 135,000 and 250,000. The 2000 census figure is 135,548.
When the votes for the 1st District race were tallied this week, the Nguyens, who are not related, had easily eclipsed the two favorites by shrewdly courting ethnic loyalties and the absentee vote.
Between them, the two bitter rivals won nearly half of the 46,000 votes cast in the Tuesday special election, with Trung Nguyen defeating Janet Nguyen by just seven ballots. She has asked for a recount. But whoever prevails will be Orange County's first Vietnamese American supervisor, demonstrating the emergence of Vietnamese political power.
"There was a major political earthquake in central Orange County this week," said Assemblyman Van Tran (R-Garden Grove), who became California's highest-ranking Vietnamese American official when he was elected to the Legislature two years ago.
The strong showing by two Vietnamese candidates is further indication that the stereotype of Orange County as an all-white, wealthy, image-conscious community is not accurate, said John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. He called the county "wonderfully pluralistic."
"It's not playing by the usual playbook, which is: Minorities tend to vote Democratic," he said. "This is not your father's Orange County."
Trung Nguyen, 49, a lawyer and member of the Garden Grove school board, and Janet Nguyen, 30, a first-term Garden Grove city councilwoman, campaigned as conservatives who promised to crack down on illegal immigration in a district where Latinos make up nearly a third of registered voters.
The split between Republicans and Democrats is nearly even in the district, which includes Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Westminster
"All candidates should know by now they can't win an election around here without the support of the Vietnamese community," said Lan Nguyen, president of the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Trustees and no relation to either candidate, who supported Trung Nguyen. He called the election a milestone for the county's Vietnamese community.
