Tyler Diep and Andrew Do

This Monday, Tyler Diep (R) was officially swore in as the Assemblyman  for California's 72nd District.  It was a  joyous moment for Tyler Diep and his family at the State Capitol in Sacramento.  His supporters chartered a bus from Orange County the night before to be on hand for his ceremony.  His old boss, former Assemblyman Van Tran (R) was also present to congratulate him.   OC Supervisor Andrew Do flew in to join him, his family and Van Tran in the Assembly Chamber Gallery for the oath of office.

It was a bruising battle for Diep against the Democratic candidate Josh Lowenthal.  Diep raised almost a $1 million while Lowenthal had $1.1 million.   There were over 24 hit pieces against him in the last three months of the election.  On top of that,  then State Senator Janet Nguyen (R) went on radio and TV accused him of not supporting her signature legislature SB 895 and urged Vietnamese-American voters to abandon him.   Meanwhile, he received strong support from Supervisor Andrew Do and Tam Le (a Vietnamese media owner).  For helping him from the beginning of his race, Diep publicly thanked Do.

With Nguyen lost her senate race to Tom Umberg (D),  Diep becomes the highest elected Vietnamese-American elected official in California.   He will have a little more than a year to prove himself before another election campaign cycle begins.  With the Blue Wave trend, no Republican is safe in Orange County.