Freshman Rep. Derek Tran (D-Calif.) flipped a Republican seat in November by hundreds of votes, a minuscule total which he attributes to his strength in the Vietnamese-American community.
We caught up with Tran to hear how he’s preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, the freshman’s take on his opening months in Congress and how Democrats can win back the House.
Remembering Black April: Black April, a somber day for the Vietnamese diaspora, commemorates the fall of the South Vietnamese government on April 30, 1975. For many families like Tran’s, the day is meant to honor the sacrifices that refugees undertook to flee Vietnam.
“My father, in his initial attempt, lost his first family, his wife and four kids,” Tran said. “This story is so common with the Vietnamese community outside of my district and inside my district, because they were all boat people for the most part.”
Tran has spent his first months in office seeking to be a voice for Vietnamese-Americans in D.C. He’s working to bring community members to Washington to share their immigrant stories with the Library of Congress.
Tran will also take part in a ceremony on April 27 on the USS Midway in San Diego, one of the ships that facilitated the evacuation from Vietnam in 1975.
Life as a Frontliner: Tran’s 653-vote win over former Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) immediately made him a Democratic star while also marking him as one of the party’s most vulnerable incumbents.
Tran is touting his bipartisan bona fides, pointing to his support for a GOP-introduced bill that seeks to cut down on foreign donations to U.S. academic institutions.
“That was something that was important to my community,” Tran said. “They wanted to make sure that there is no foreign influence in our research institutions or universities.”
But Tran said he’s been disappointed by the lack of cooperation from Republicans. Tran — a veteran himself — introduced legislation to protect veterans from being affected by DOGE cuts but said he got a cool reception from his GOP colleagues.
“I went to a few Republicans on the other side, and they told me to my face, ‘What a great bill, but I can’t touch this. We’re not going to mess with Trump,’” Tran recounted.
Tran’s advice: Tran urged Democrats to intervene earlier in primaries to make sure the party is “running the right candidate in the right district.”
“Pushing out candidates that may not be the right fit is something that they should look into, instead of letting it be a free-for-all,” Tran said.
Tran cited his own expensive 2024 primary victory over Kim Nguyen-Penaloza as a situation he wishes had been handled differently.
“At what point do we let Dems kill each other and waste all this money so that the Republican can just swoop in with all this money saved?” Tran said.
