Van Thai Tran ( vi, Trần Thái Văn; born October 19, 1964) is a

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...

attorney and politician in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, formerly serving as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the California State Assembly, representing portions of

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

. Tran and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

State Representative

Hubert Vo Hubert Vo (, born 30 May 1956) is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives for House District 149. He is the first and only Vietnamese American to be elected to the Texas legislature. Personal life Vo was born in South Vietna ...

were the highest-ranking Vietnamese American elected officials in U.S. history until

Joseph Cao Ánh Quang "Joseph" Cao (, ; vi, Cao Quang Ánh; born March 13, 1967) is a Vietnamese–American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2009 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he is the first Vietnamese American and first ...

was elected to the United States House of Representatives in December 2008. Tran took office one month before Vo did, making him the first Vietnamese American to serve in a state legislature. He served in the Assembly as Assistant Republican Leader.

Early life, education and career

Born in Saigon, South Vietnam, Tran and his family emigrated to the United States after being evacuated by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

one week before the

Fall of Saigon The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, t ...

, when he was 10 years old. After originally settling in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, they moved to Orange County when Tran was a teenager. Tran worked as an intern and later as a staff aide for Congressman

Bob Dornan Robert Kenneth Dornan (born April 3, 1933) is an American politician and actor from California. A Republican, Dornan served in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1983 and from 1985 to 1997. He has become well known for public ...

and for State Senator

Ed Royce Edward Randall Royce (born October 12, 1951) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from California from 1993 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Royce served as Chairman of the United ...

while a student at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

, where he earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

in 1990. Tran completed a Master of Public Administration from

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline ...

and a J.D. from Hamline University School of Law. He was admitted to the

California State Bar The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate disciplin ...

in 1994. In 2000, Tran was elected to the Garden Grove

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

with the highest number of votes in city history and became only the second Vietnamese American man to be elected to office in the United States (

Tony Lam Tony Lâm (born 1936) is a politician from California. In 1992, he won a seat on the Westminster City Council, becoming the first Vietnamese-born person to be elected into a political office in the United States. Prior to being elected, Lam had bee ...

was the first when he was elected to the city council of neighboring

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

in 1992). After serving one term on the council, he was elected to the California State Assembly to replace outgoing Republican state assemblyman

Ken Maddox Kenneth W. Maddox (born February 29, 1964 in Long Beach, California), also known as Ken Lopez-Maddox is a former California State Assemblyman who served from 1998 until 2004, representing part of Orange County. He received his bachelor of sci ...

, who was forced to retire due to term limits. Tran was re-elected to the Assembly in 2006 and 2008.

California State Assembly

Tran represented the 68th District. He was the Vice Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. He also serves on the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee and the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee. In June 2007, he was appointed by the Assembly Speaker as chairman of the Select Committee on International Trade.

Political campaigns

2006

On December 21, 2005, Tran announced that he would launch an

exploratory committee In the election politics of the United States, an exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They are most often cited in reference to candidates for pre ...

for a 2006 run against Democratic First District Orange County Supervisor

Lou Correa Jose Luis Correa ( ; born January 24, 1958) is an American businessman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2017. His district is based in Orange County and includes the communities of Anaheim and Santa Ana, as well as ...

in the race for the State Senate seat being vacated by

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

ed Democrat Joe Dunn. Tran opted not to join the race, allowing Assemblywoman

Lynn Daucher Lynn Daucher (born September 20, 1946) is a United States politician who was a Republican California State Assemblywoman from Orange County from 2000 until 2006 when she was term limited. That year, Daucher ran for the California State Senate se ...

to win the Republican nomination with nominal opposition, and she went on to lose the general election to Correa by a 1% margin. On November 7, 2006, Tran was re-elected to the Assembly with 62% of the vote.

2010

Tran challenged and lost to Democratic incumbent Loretta Sanchez. Tran was endorsed by Senator John McCain.

2014

Tran announced that he would run for State Board of Equalization representing District 4. He ran, but lost the primary to state Assemblywoman

Diane Harkey Diane Lynn Harkey (born June 20, 1951) is an American politician who served as a member of the California State Board of Equalization, representing its fourth district from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she was previously elected ...

, who went on to easily win the general election.

Personal life

Tran married Cindy Nguyen. He and Cindy welcomed their first child, Alexander Tran.

References

External links

Official Campaign web site
*
Financial information
at

OpenSecrets.org OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

The New Face of the Grand Old Party

Join California Van Tran
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tran, Van 1964 births Asian American and Pacific Islander state legislators in California Living people California politicians of Vietnamese descent California lawyers Hamline University alumni Republican Party members of the California State Assembly University of California, Irvine alumni Vietnamese emigrants to the United States Hamline University School of Law alumni 21st-century American politicians Asian conservatism in the United States