Van Tran for Congress

1st Vietnamese Lawmaker in California to Run for House

By: The Associated Press | 8 May 2009

1st Vietnamese-American lawmaker in California to challenge Hispanic incumbent for US House seat. The first Vietnamese-American elected to California’s Legislature says he plans to challenge one of the country’s leading Hispanic politicians for her spot in Congress.

State assemblyman Van Tran says he filed paperwork Wednesday to create a committee so he can run against Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez in 2010. The third-term Republican from Costa Mesa says the struggling economy makes Sanchez’s 47th Congressional District ripe for change. He says it’s time “to get the issues out and to contrast diverse positions.” Sanchez says she welcomes “a spirited debate.” She was re-elected last year with more than 60 percent of the vote.The district in Orange County has large Latino and Vietnamese-American constituencies.

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