Hung Nguyen Lost Virginia House of Delegates Race

With 90% of the precincts reported, it seems that Hung Nguyen (D) has lost his bid to become the first Vietnamese-American elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.  It was an opportunistic campaign with lack of funding and little support from his own Vietnamese community.   Thus the result was encouraging and it is up to him to learn from this experience in order to mount a challenge two years from now.  Candidate Votes Percent Recount Votes Recount % Column13 Column14 Column15 REP James M. "Jim" LeMunyon 9,516 54.37% 0 220 0.543709290366815 595 N 067 DEM Hung Q. Nguyen 7,949 45.42% 0 220 0.45417666552394 531 N 067 Write-in 37 0.21% 99 220 0.00211404410924466 1265 N 067 Total Votes 17,502

Hung Nguyen and His Chances

Hung Nguyen (D) is falling behind his opponent in fund raising effort.   Currently, he has raised about $53K (1/3 of the money came from California where he originally resided).  Meanwhile, his opponent, the Republican incumbent James LeMunyon, is flushed with cash at $280K (10% came from out-of-state).

So what are his chances?  The Democratic Party is fully behind him.  The Asian-Americans are lukewarm right now.  Whether the government shut dow will entice them to go to vote en-mass is too early to tell.   With not a lot of money, he has been relying on other Democratic candidates to co-promoting his name.   His co-campaigning with other better funded Democratic candidates is a practical strategy to get his name out there for free.

LSI thinks the race is actually closer than the conventional wisdom predicted.   LeMunyon is sitting on $84K of cash unspent.  He should be worry and use the money wisely for he might be in for a suprise in November.   As mentioned before, if Nguyen loses, he will be better ready next time.   LSI can see the ambition in his eyes.  He is a good guy and could make a difference in office.



 

Janet Nguyen and San Francisco Chronicle

It is quite rare to have SF Chronicle to interview a political candidate in Orange County.   So LSI was surprised to see the article about OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen (R) along with the video -

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/10/06/meet-the-female-gop-candidate-who-grew-up-on-welfare-video/

 So what is going with the OC state senate race between Janet Nguyen (R) and Jose Solorio.   See below for a nice breakdown by an article in the OC Register.    By all indication thus far, it will be a close race but if Nguyen can rally her base, she might be ahead by more than 7 votes on election night (which is still a year from now).

Vietnamese Americans more engaged politically
There are far more Mexican-born residents of Orange County than Vietnamese-born, but those from Vietnam are more likely to register to vote.
By MARTIN WISCKOL / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Vietnamese Americans repeatedly prove themselves more engaged with Orange County elections than their Latino counterparts, and Register stats wiz Ronald Campbell has turned up a new indicator of that.

County residents are more than three times as likely to be Mexican-born (12 percent of the population) as Vietnamese born (4 percent), according to census data. But the Vietnamese-born are more likely to be registered to vote than the Mexican-born (4.8 percent to 4.2 percent), according to Campbell’s rundown.

There are far more Mexican-born residents of Orange County than Vietnamese-born, but those from Vietnam are more likely to register to vote.
But even among registered voters, Vietnamese Americans are more likely to vote than Mexican Americans or Latinos in general.

Perhaps the most dramatic display of county Vietnamese Americans’ electoral muscle came in the 2007 special election for county supervisor, which was won by Janet Nguyen. The district had 20 percent more Latino voters than Vietnamese American voters. But Vietnamese Americans’ ballots outnumbered those from Latinos by more than 2-1. Although there were three Latinos on the ballot, the top two finishers were Vietnamese Americans.That’s worth keeping in mind in the 2014 race for state Senate District 34, which is being vacated by termed-out Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana. Nguyen, a Republican, is running against Democratic former Assemblyman Jose Solorio.

Democrats have a narrow 3-percentage point advantage in the district’s voter registration. Latinos are 47 percent of the district’s population but just 27 percent of the district’s citizens of voting age, according to Paul Mitchell at Political Data Inc. Asians – predominantly of Vietnamese descent – are 21 percent of the population and 23 percent of the district’s citizens of voting age.
Vietnamese Americans (and Asians overall) are traditionally more likely to register to vote than Latinos, and once registered are more likely to cast ballots. That likely tips the scale of ethnic votes in favor of Nguyen.
A similar dynamic could come into play in Assembly District 65 if Vietnamese Americans join Korean Americans in identifying with Korean American candidate Young Kim, a Republican. The GOP hopes she can beat incumbent Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton. Democrats have an insignificant half-percentage point advantage in voter registration. Latinos and Asians each have about a 24-percent share of the district’s citizens of voting age.

By most assessments, the Mexican American population is younger than its Vietnamese American counterpart (ditto for the broader Latino vs. Asian numbers), so voter registration numbers are apt to improve for Latinos as more reach voting age.But even once they reach voting age, Latino citizens are less likely to register than others. About 25 percent of the state’s voting-age citizens are not registered, while that shoots up to 37 percent among Latino citizens of voting age, according to Mitchell.

 

Van Tran for Board of Equalization

The ex-assemblyman Van Tran is curiously announced his run for the Board of Equalization to replace his long time mentor Michelle Steel who is termed out and will be running for Orange County supervisor.

Why such a puzzling move to set up another political defeat for a position that has little political influence?

The 4th BOE Seat encompasses all of Orange County, along with San Diego, Imperial, Riverside and portions of San Bernardino Counties.   There are about 9 million people residing in the area.   Less than 3% are Vietnamese-Americans.   The overwhelmingly favorite candidate is the Diane Harkey (R).  She has the support of all the major politicians in the area, including local assemblymembers, state senators and all  five OC county supervisors.  And of course, she has no problem raising a boat load of money.

Not suprisingly,  his mentor Michelle Steel decided to also support Diane Harkey.    Michelle Steel and  her husband (a powerful Republican Party leader) gave Van Tran and his underlings the stepping stones into American politics.

In race with such large area to cover and without having the support of the Republican Party,  Van Tran would have little chance of raising enough money.  And his lack of visibility outside of Little Saigon conclave will also limited his ability to  run a meaningful campaign.  

So what is his game?   The conventional wisdom is that he is just making his name relevant again and try to raise as much money as he can so that he can  use the fund to run for Janet Nguyen's seat in 2015, just in case she wins the state senate race.

One Vietnam Network Presents STREET EATS GALA

This is the second annual event put together by One Vietnam Network to raise money for their organization.  The group was formed with the idea of provide social network for Vietnamese people all over the world.  Last year, there were about 500 people attending the gala paying $125 a piece or more. 

http://streeteats.in/?utm_source=OneVietnam%27s+Weekly+Digest&utm_campaign=2a8b8a4dc7-Street_Eats_Flash_Sale_Day_110_1_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b045e3fc4f-2a8b8a4dc7-56980241

Richard Nguyen vs. Al Hoang for Houston City Council

An upcoming election this November that are being watched closely by the Vietnamese-American communities is the Houston city council race in District F.   The district is currently represented by Councilmember Hung Hoang or Al Hoang (English).   

Just as a background about  Houston.  It is the largest city in Texas with  2.2 million people and is divided into 11 districts.  Each district is represented by a city council.   The city also has 5 at-large council members and a mayor.    District F includes the Alief community where a large population of Vietnamese-Americans resides. 

Al Hoang was elected in 2009 and has a three-term limit of 2 years each.  The Vietnamese-American voters voted for him based on his strong anti-communist rhetoric.  

After taking office, he immediately wrapped himself in controversy with his open overture to the communist government in Vietnam.  He went to Vietnam on "special economic development visits" and met with high officials including the president of Vietnam.    His close relationship with various officials at the Vietnam Consulate in Houston is viewed with disdain by the anti-communist groups in Houston.    He is also in a legal fight with various factions of the community about his handling of the community's fund designated for Vietnamese-American community center.

To his supporters,  Al Hoang visiting Vietnam or dealing with Vietnamese officials are part of his duty on a special economic development committee for Houston.  These activies have nothing to do with his view against the communist government in Vietnam. 

Nevertheless, the extreme anti-communist folks in Houston decided that they have enough of Al Hoang and recruited a political novice, Richard Nguyen, to run against Hoang.   Al Hoang was running unopposed until a couple month ago.

District F has a population of 185,000 people composed of 42% Hispanic, 23% Black, 15% White and 16% Asian.    Vietnamese-American population in Houston is about 38,000 people and roughly half live in District F.

Historically, in the last two elections (2009 and 2011), there were less than 5,000 people voted.

So what are Richard Nguyen chances?  The Viet voters high turn out alone would be closed to 5,000 people. 

Richard Nguyen is a controversial person himself and the people supporting him are not well like by the community.   He once campaigned for another city council candidate, Nguyen thai Hoc, who actually lost the race to Al Hoang in 2009.

Whether they will vote for Richard Nguyen as a protest vote against Al Hoang, we will have to wait and see. 


 

San Jose Mid-Autum Festival 2013 - A Celebration for Kids of All Ages

The celebrated festival put together by Viet Voters, Vietnamese-American Round Table, VACCNORCAL and Santa Clara County Supervisor Office was quite a show with over 2,000 people attending.

Of course, politicians like Congressman Mike Honda, Supervisor Dave Cortese and Cindy Chavez showed up to get maximum exposure.   San Jose City council candidate Tam Nguyen also sponsored the event.

 

 

 

The festive gathering that is often known as the Children's New Year brought smile and happiness to everybody from young to old with traditional games, music and shows.

Cannot wait until next year!