Maybe I’m calling the race a little early but things aren’t looking up for Assemblyman Van Tran in his quest to unseat Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez. He is further behind in votes as he was on election night, and while the late absentee ballots dropped off at precincts were expected to lean in his favor, it doesn’t look likely that they will be enough. It seems the the elective reign of the Emperor of Little Saigon is coming to a close.Â
Demonstrating his continuing desire to divide communities,Van Tran held a press conference for the Vietnamese language media on Saturday morning where he admitted to the difficulty of coming out on top when all the votes are counted. The Orange County Register reported:Â
Speaking in Vietnamese in front of cameras and microphones, Tran said that he is not ready to concede, though he acknowledged that he is at the brink of defeat.Â
“I understand that this is an uphill chance for me,” he said. “There is a good chance that I will lose. But I’m not ashamed of it. If we win, we win with pride. If we lose, we lose with our dignity and respect intact.”Â
As of 5 p.m. Sunday Sanchez’s lead has widened even more, putting her 7,950 votes ahead of Tran. Sanchez brought her total to 41,502 vs. Tran’s 33,552 votes. Independent candidate Cecilia Iglesias closed Sunday’s tally at 5,961 votes. Sanchez expanded her lead by an additional 1,591 votes over Saturday’s count. On election night, Sanchez’s led Tran by 5,516 votes. Â
According to the Register Tran said he plans to look into what he called the high number of provisional ballots cast in the race, though he said he doesn’t at this time believe he will take legal action. Interesting, that is not the way he is framing the issue on his Vietnamese language radio broadcasts. On the air Tran is reportedly claiming massive fraud in Santa Ana and that Loretta stole the election. The votes he is claiming are fraudulent are not Vietnamese, they are Latino. Yep, Van Tran the divider learned well from his mentor and former boss former Congressman Bob Dornan. Just as Dornan taught him, he is “blaming the Latino voters, because everyone knows their votes must be illegal.”Â
Tran also addressed the scratch and sniff mailer that his campaign sent out titled “Something smells rotten about Loretta.” Tran revealed that the 20,000 piece mailer was sent to Caucasian Republican voters, none of them were sent to Democratic or Vietnamese voters. Tran indicated that the mailer was received positively by 65% of those who received it.
According to the OC Register story:
Tran said he has already gotten numerous consultancy and business offers and that he plans to continue residing in Orange County.Â
Huh? Note to OC Register reporter Deepa Bharath, Van Tran hasn’t lived in Orange County for a while now. He has a home, his only home, in Sacramento. The Register’s Sacramento political reporter Brian Joseph reported that a while ago.
Luu Son, of the Viet Herald, contributed to this report.
Stick a fork in the Great Divider.
One has to wonder, has Ceci Iglesias also received a number of business and consulting offers? How much of her 7 percent of the vote would have gone to Loretta in a 2 way race.
Make no mistake – Van Tran and this year were the OC Republicans best shot at taking out Loretta and they failed miserably. Sure hope Van Tran doesn’t lose his shirt when he sells that house in Sacramento
Many of the Latino democratic voters stayed home on Tuesday. Tran lost on his own.
Monday’s 5 pm update has Loretta’s lead up to 9,752 votes.
Where are the comments from the Ceci supporter(s) who were claiming victory by thousands a few weeks ago?