Five Republicans and one Democrat are vying for the highly competitive 70th Assembly District seat in the June 7 primary, seeking to represent Little Saigon and a chunk of central Orange County.
Assemblywoman Janet Nguyen, a Republican, is now running for a state Senate seat after representing AD-72, the district closest to the newly created 70th. That has opened the door for three city council members, one mayor, a city commissioner and a consultant for non-profits to vie for the open spot.
Here are the candidates
– Ted Bui, 51, a businessman and Fountain Valley councilman since 2020;
– Jason Gray, 37, a Westminster city commissioner who has worked in the mortgage business and unsuccessfully ran for City Council in 2018;
– Emily Hibard, 41, a businesswoman in Los Alamitos who has authored three books to help people start their own non-profits;
– Kimberly Ho, 58, a Westminster councilwoman since 2016 and owner of a skin care products company;
– Diedre Nguyen, 46, a Garden Grove councilwoman since 2016 and a cancer research scientist; and
– Tri Ta, 49, who was first elected to the Westminster city council in 2006 and has served as its mayor since 2012, when he became the first Vietnamese American elected mayor in the nation.
All are Republicans except for Diedre Nguyen, a Democrat, in a district where voter registration data shows Democrats with a 4 point advantage over Republicans.
The two candidates who receive the most votes in the primary will move on to the November election.
The district includes Westminster, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Stanton and Rossmoor, plus parts of Santa Ana and Huntington Beach. It was redrawn late last year, based on 2020 U.S. Census data with a specific goal of ensuring much of the county’s Vietnamese community could be clustered together and retain political clout.
Nearly 40% of voters in the district are Asian, with Vietnamese-Americans comprising the largest segment of that population, according to Political Data Inc. About half of the voters, 52%, were born in the United States.
The more prominent candidates are all Vietnamese Americans. The candidates collectively have raised more than $1 million for what’s considered a highly competitive race.
Ho was leading in contributions with $400,615 as of late last month, with $207,678 in hand after expenses, according to recent campaign finance filings with the California Secretary of State. Bui raised more than $227,000 and had about $109,000. Nguyen netted $167,164 in contributions and had $159,524 after expenses. Ta raised over $205,000 and had a balance of $121,517, and Hibard raised over $25,000 and had $19,643 on hand.
There were no finance reports for Gray, who also doesn’t appear to have a campaign website.
The Republican Party of Orange County has not endorsed any of its five GOP members running in the 70th Assembly race.
The Democratic Party of Orange County has thrown its support behind Nguyen, 46, who has served on the Garden Grove city council since 2016 and is a cancer research scientist. Before the redistricting, Diedre Nguyen ran in 2020 in the 72nd Assembly District race and lost to Janet Nguyen by 8.4 percentage points.
In response to a questionnaire sent by the Register, candidates offered their views on topics that ranged from abortion and gay rights to the state’s housing needs and climate policies. Ta, Westminster’s mayor, did not reply despite repeated requests.
As the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade on abortion rights, abortion has quickly risen as a key concern for voters in California and across the country.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders want to make the state a sanctuary for women denied abortions in other states. They plan to ask voters to consider a state constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights.
Nguyen was the only candidate to describe herself as “pro-choice,” saying she supports “a woman’s constitutional right to govern her own body.”
Bui said he was “pro-life” except in the case of rape and incest. Ho and Hibard also described themselves as “pro-life.” Gray wrote: “We cannot play God and take away life. This is a precious thing.”
The pending Supreme Court abortion ruling, leaked last week but not yet final, has raised concerns whether watering down gay marriage protections is next. Democrats at both the state and federal levels are considering plans to codify LGBT marriage equality into law.
In the questionnaire, which was completed before the Supreme Court leak, the 70th Assembly District candidates who replied are split on whether they support the legality of gay marriage. Hibard opposes it while Gray and Nguyen support it. Bui and Ho did not answer the question.
They also varied on their support for COVID-19 mandates regarding vaccines and other government policies. Bui, Gray and Nguyen support limited mandates. Ho and Hibard don’t want to see any mandates.
Housing is a key issue in California, where state leaders are pushing every city to increase residential construction and nearly every city is behind and faces potential penalties.
Bui, Gray and Nguyen said that when it comes to building new homes, California should make it easier to build. Ho said the state should make it harder. Hibard did not answer the question.
Regarding how California is addressing climate change, Gray and Nguyen said that the state should be slightly more aggressive while Ho and Hibard said it should be less aggressive. Bui said he’s good with California polices remaining as they are now.
In other matters, none of the candidates support single payer health care in California. And Nguyen is the only candidate to support California’s sanctuary laws for undocumented immigrants and a ban on offshore oil drilling.
The candidates, asked to rank their political ideology on a scale of one to 10, with 1 being far left, 5 being centrist and 10 being far right, said this: Nguyen described herself as a four, Bui and Ho rated themselves as eight and Hibard wrote she’s a 10 on the scale. Gray did not answer.
Two of the candidates – Ta and Ho – were once allies on the Westminster City Council but have more recently become adversaries.
