Orange County's Vietnamese American political scene comes of age
Just 16 years ago, Tony Lam was the first Vietnamese American elected in the U.S. at a time when few were even registered to vote. Now, his countrymen and women are transforming O.C. politics.
Sixteen years ago, a 56-year-old Vietnamese refugee canvassed the streets of a conservative Orange County city with red, white and blue campaign posters that urged people to vote for him.
A diminutive man with a showman's personality, Tony Lam became the first Vietnamese American in the country to be elected to public office. At a time when Vietnamese refugees were still reshaping the strawberry and bean fields of Westminster into the streets of Little Saigon, Lam was the lone Vietnamese face in the world of American politics.
And for nearly a decade, he remained the sole Vietnamese person to hold that distinction.
Not anymore.
There are now 10 Vietnamese Americans from Orange County who have been elected to school boards, city councils, the county Board of Supervisors and the state Assembly.
And this week, after the last of the absentee ballots had been counted, Westminster -- a blue-collar town that recoiled when the first waves of refugees moved in 33 years ago -- became the first city in the nation with a majority Vietnamese American city council.
The political muscle of Vietnamese Americans has been building for years. They vote with gusto, are increasingly running for office and, in a county with a reputation for political conservatism, have been faithfully Republican.
"It wasn't that long ago that . . . members of the Vietnamese community were coming to the United States in dire straits after the fall of Saigon," said John J. Pitney Jr., a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College. "When it comes to the political rise of ethnic groups, [Vietnamese Americans] have actually risen very rapidly."
Once marginalized, Vietnamese American voters are now wooed by Orange County's white and Latino politicians alike, many of whom translate their campaign mailers and posters into Vietnamese and make a point to pose with the yellow and red striped flag of the fallen country of South Vietnam. They are fixtures at cultural events including the Vietnamese New Year's parade, and they attend rallies in Little Saigon condemning Vietnam's communist government, a passionate issue for those who fled Vietnam.
"I don't believe in central Orange County you can be a successful elected official without the Vietnamese vote," said Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), who hired Vietnamese American staffers and even participated in a hunger strike advocating for human rights in Vietnam.
