California Congressional District 32

He's just 26 and making his first election bid in a crowded field of candidates that includes two seasoned, well-financed officeholders -- just the sort of hopeful who usually gets lost in the pack. But Emanuel Pleitez has collected enough money -- much of it in online donations from across the nation -- to put on a substantive mail campaign, bolstered by an energetic staff of young volunteers.

A ferociously contested congressional race in the San Gabriel Valley has emerged as a classic test of the power of ethnic politics in the aftermath of Barack Obama's racial breakthrough in the presidential election. The election Tuesday to fill the House seat vacated by U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis also spotlights the clashing political aspirations of two of California's fastest growing ethnic groups, Asians and Latinos.

What's in a name? Just about everything, it turns out, in the 32nd Congressional District. Democrat Judy Chu and Republican Betty Chu, along with Libertarian Christopher M. Agrella, rose out of a field of 12 in Tuesday's election to advance to a July runoff. Judy Chu's campaign consultant, Parke Skelton, calls it "the Chu-Chu runoff." Judy, who outpolled Democratic state Sen. Gil Cedillo and six other party members, is considered the heavy favorite, given the district's strong Democratic tilt.

State Board of Equalization member Judy Chu, who forged multiethnic coalitions during more than two decades in public office, was winning Tuesday's special election to the San Gabriel Valley-based 32nd Congressional District as returns were being tallied. If Chu's wide lead in early returns holds up as expected, she will become the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress, according to the Office of the House Historian and the Congressional Research Service.