1. Derek Tran was born in Los Angeles County, California, on December 22,1980, Derek Tran grew up in the San Gabriel Valley as the son of Vietnamese refugees.
16 Facts About Derek Tran
1. 2.
Derek Tran's father fled Vietnam after the 1975 Fall of Saigon as a boat person.
3.
When he turned 18, Derek Tran enlisted in the United States Army.
4.
Derek Tran has worked as an attorney since 2014; he started his own law firm called Derek Tran Firm in Huntington Beach in 2020.
5.
Derek Tran has served on the board of the Consumer Attorneys Association of America.
6.
Derek Tran has served as a traffic commissioner for Orange.
7.
Derek Tran's campaign emphasized the centrality of his Vietnamese American identity to his bid, as the district encompasses parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties and is a majority-minority district, including the cities of Westminster and Garden Grove, which have predominantly Vietnamese American communities, as well as Artesia and Cerritos, where Asian Americans as a whole are the largest demographic.
8.
Derek Tran accused Steel's husband, Shawn, of accepting bribes from the Chinese Communist Party in exchange for information, stating that Steel thus could not be trusted with political office in the United States.
9.
Derek Tran drew distinctions between his own family background to that of Steel's, stating that Steel immigrated to the United States for "economic gain" while his family were refugees fleeing communism.
10.
Derek Tran defeated Steel in the general election by just 653 votes out of nearly 316,000 cast, and the race was one of the closest of the election cycle.
11.
Derek Tran was sworn into the 119th United States Congress on January 3,2025.
12.
In January 2025, Derek Tran was one of 48 Democrats to vote for the Laken Riley Act, which requires US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft.
13.
Derek Tran later became one of 46 House Democrats who joined all Republicans to vote for a Senate-amended version of the bill.
14.
Derek Tran expressed support for protecting Medicare and Social Security, and for increasing federal funding for affordable housing initiatives.
15.
Derek Tran considers abortion to be a "number one issue" in his district.
16.
Derek Tran has criticized the Republican Party's stance on immigration, stating that mass deportations are inhumane.