Red-baiting allegations raised as fierce fight for Orange-LA county seat heats up

As the race to represent California’s 45th district between incumbent Michelle Steel and challenger Derek Tran intensifies, claims of the other being tied to China are sparking outrage and accusations of red-baiting.

Driving the news: The competition is tight. A poll commissioned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and released on Monday shows Democrat Tran leading Republican Steel 48% to 45%, but another poll from the National Republican Congressional Committee published just days ago shows Steel leading Tran 45% to 41%.
What the candidates are saying: Earlier this month, Steel released fliers accusing Tran of ties to communism, featuring his image alongside Mao Zedong and the hammer-and-sickle symbol of the Chinese Communist Party. The incumbent candidate also pointed to her rival’s cryptocurrency “linked to China” and his TikTok account. “It’s such dirty, dirty tricks,” Tran told the Los Angeles Times in response, adding that it was a “desperate attempt by a losing campaign.” However, the Steel campaign said they were responding to months of Tran’s attacks that accused Steel’s husband of “selling access” to the Chinese government, such as by bringing “Chinese spies into American politics in exchange for money.” Responding to Tran’s reaction, Steel spokesperson Lance Trover said, “Since May, crybaby Derek Tran has leveled false and despicable attacks on Michelle Steel’s family, even putting a CCP flag in his own advertising, but now sobs when our campaign accurately highlights his connections to Communist China.”
The big picture: The stakes in the 45th district are high, with both national parties eyeing it as a key battleground in determining control of Congress. Steel has leaned heavily on anti-communist rhetoric, a tried-and-true strategy in Little Saigon, where the community’s collective trauma of fleeing communist regimes plays a significant role in shaping its politics. However, Tran, himself the son of Vietnamese refugees, aims to flip the district by appealing to that same community, emphasizing his deep personal connection to their shared history. “Those wounds are still fresh, even after 50 years. And for her [Steel] to exploit all of that for her political gain, that is very offensive,” Tran supporter Christina Tram Le told Politico. Despite this, Steel maintains that her record of service to the community, not Tran’s background, will ultimately resonate more. “My opponent may have a Vietnamese last name, but I understand the Vietnamese community,” she said in a Vietnamese-language program.

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