Excerpt:

Created four years ago to solidify the political clout of Little Saigon’s Vietnamese American community, California’s 45th congressional district has become one of the nation’s most narrowly contested House seats.

And with votes still being counted in a race that’s still too close to call, experts say the presence of a Vietnamese American on the general election ballot — a first for CA-45 — is a possible tipping point in a contest that could come down to a handful of votes.

On Friday, the latest tally in CA-45 showed Democratic challenger Derek Tran, a lawyer with longstanding ties to Little Saigon, with a 515-vote lead over Rep. Michelle Steel, a Republican from Seal Beach who is hoping to win her third term in office.

The district, which runs from the Little Saigon cities of Westminster, Garden Grove and Fountain Valley to include a slice of Los Angeles County, is one of just three seats in the country that the Associated Press has yet to call more than two weeks after Election Day.

The current tally — which could result in a voluntary recount if one or both candidates seek one within five days after Dec. 6 — is only slightly more dramatic than the 2022 election. In that one, Steel beat challenger Jay Chen by 10,494 votes, or 4.4 points, a race that could be viewed as traditionally close if not a nail biter.

The increasingly narrow results in CA-45 elections speak volumes about the makeup of the district, the candidates, and political division within the nation’s biggest Vietnamese American community.

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While such racial and ethnic specificity might be a subtle issue in some contests, Sadhwani suggested it might prove decisive this year in CA-45. The legally mandated redrawing of congressional seats that followed the 2020 Census — and enacted in time for the 2022 election cycle — was specifically aimed at boosting Vietnamese American electoral clout. Westminster, in particular, is historically recognized as the point where Little Saigon took root along Bolsa Avenue, starting in the mid-1970s.

“Previously, the neighborhoods that incorporate Little Saigon were split between three different congressional districts,” said Sadhwani, who helped create all 52 House seats in California as one of 14 members — five Democrats, five Republicans and five people not affiliated with either major party — of the state’s 2020 Citizens Redistricting Commission.

“In the beginning of the process, Vietnamese Americans had a strong voice, calling in on a nightly basis to ask commissioners to keep Little Saigon together.”

Others who track the intersection of political power and geography agree.

“We have more competition in California than we used to because of independent redistricting,” said Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, a nonpartisan group that advocates for secure and trustworthy election processes.

“These districts lines are not drawn for politicians. They’re drawn for voters, and that means these incumbents don’t have the natural advantage they used to have when you conduct elections after redistricting.”

Another factor that is different this election is ballot curing. While California already had laws that protect voters from being disenfranchised, Alexander said legislation that kicked into effect this year has strengthened those guardrails. Senate Bill 77, she noted, allows election officials to contact voters via phone, email or text to verify signatures, rather than only by mail. Additionally, Assembly Bill 626 permits voters to return their ballots in person, without an envelope, so they can be counted immediately.

It’s unclear how many ballots are being counted that way, but in a race as close as CA-45 literally every vote might matter.

“You’re really seeing the full effect of those reforms in this election cycle as ballot curing has become the new normal of the post-election season … in races that are too close to call.”

But another factor is as old as politics itself — race and ethnicity.

Jon Gould, dean of the UCI School of Social Ecology, said Tran’s background as a Vietnamese American is critical. (Full Story)