Election 2024: Get to know the candidates in California’s 45th congressional race

Four Democrats are trying to flip California’s 45th congressional district and unseat Rep. Michelle Steel, a Republican from Seal Beach who is serving her second term in Congress.

Steel is being challenged by policy advocate Cheyenne Hunt, Garden Grove City Councilmember Kim Nguyen-Penaloza, affordable housing attorney Aditya Pai and attorney Derek Tran.

Steel’s seat is deemed “lean Republican” by the Cook Political Report, which analyzes elections, although registered Democrats in the district outnumber registered Republicans. According to state data, Democrats account for 37.9% of all the registered voters in the district, which covers portions of Los Angeles and Orange counties, while 32.4% are Republicans and 24% are no party preference voters.

CA-45 is one of 31 House seats held by Republicans that the national Democratic Party’s campaign arm sees as a “key to winning a Democratic House majority.” The majority-Asian district is home to Orange County’s Little Saigon, the largest Vietnamese enclave outside of Vietnam, and they are expected to play an outsize role in determining who represents them in the House.

Steel, who in 2020 became one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress, previously served on the Board of Equalization and the Orange County Board of Supervisors. In Congress, she’s been an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party, introducing legislation that aims to increase oversight of foreign investments in higher education and another that restricts the use of a Chinese logistics platform by the U.S. military.

“Our greatest national security threat, the Chinese Communist Party, is watching how we handle the war in Ukraine and gauging our level of support for Israel,” she said.

That’s why Steel believes the U.S. cannot “waver in supporting American allies,” and “must stop Russian President Vladimir Putin and destroy Hamas,” she said.

Recently, the U.S. Senate released a long-awaited border deal, which cracks down on illegal crossings and expedites asylum while tightening the system, making it harder for people to seek asylum. But former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have criticized the deal, with the latter saying that it would be “dead on arrival” if the Senate decides to pass it.

Said Steel: “I support Republican efforts to get border security funding into any legislation that will also fund Ukraine.”

Nguyen-Penaloza, the daughter of a Vietnamese refugee and a Mexican immigrant, said, “It is important for the U.S. to remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine” and that she supports “a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Pai, on the other hand, said Congress should approve military and financial assistance to foreign nations if they align with American values and interests.

“We should only involve ourselves in conflicts that both implicate a core national security interest and enable us to act in ways that we can all be proud of as Americans,” he said. “Both countries (Israel and Ukraine) deserve our support because of our shared values: democracy, freedom and the rule of law. Both countries also implicate core national security interests in Europe and the Middle East.”

Tran, the son of Vietnamese refugees, said, “Supporting our allies in times of crisis — and standing up for human rights, democracy and peace — remains in our best interests as a country,” while Hunt, a 26-year-old from Fullerton, said U.S. assistance to foreign countries, including Israel and Ukraine, “should be rooted in promoting human rights, democracy and global stability.”

“Aid should be conditional, based on the recipient country’s commitment to human rights and democratic principles,” she said. “This approach ensures that U.S. aid does not prolong conflicts or support undemocratic practices.”

The U.S. must also balance its role in foreign affairs with investments in domestic welfare, she said.

CA-45 is one of several Republican-held House districts that went for President Joe Biden in 2020. It includes Fountain Valley, Westminster, Garden Grove, Cypress, Buena Park, La Palma, Placentia, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor and parts of Brea, Fullerton and Yorba Linda in Orange County; and Cerritos, Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens and parts of Lakewood in Los Angeles County.

Candidates also weighed in on the role — and size — of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has come under scrutiny in recent years. Last year, a ProPublica investigation revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury trips and private boarding school tuition payments for his grandnephew from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, then failed to disclose them.

This election, the highest court is directly involved: Before the Supreme Court this week is a case over former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on states’ primary ballots.

Hunt, Pai and Tran, the three candidates in the legal field, all said they are in favor of imposing term limits for justices.

“The current Supreme Court, by accepting gifts like luxury trips, real estate and college tuition for family members, among other ethical lapses, has shown itself to be unworthy of life tenure — and incapable of regulating itself,” Pai said.

Both Pai and Tran said they are opposed to adding more justices to the court, with Pai noting that “a court that is struggling with extreme partisanship and credible allegations of bribery cannot be fixed by even more partisan posturing.”

Steel characterized adding more justices to the court as a push by “left-wing zealots who seek a complete takeover of the federal government in order to enact their radical policies.” She added that the Constitution provides justices life terms “to ensure they are not swayed by political whims,” a proposition that has “worked well since our founding.”

Nguyen-Penaloza said she is open to potential term limits and expanding the size of the court.

Abortion rights has also emerged as a key issue in the CA-45 race. While incumbent Steel said she opposes abortion with exceptions for rape, incest and the health and life of the mother, in January, she co-sponsored legislation that doesn’t spell out those exceptions.

Her primary challengers have all voiced support for abortion rights — Nguyen-Penaloza said she is “infinity percent pro-choice,” Hunt said she supports following California law, which allows abortion until a doctor determines the fetus could live outside the uterus without extreme measures; and Tran and Pai said they support the codification of Roe v. Wade, which would allow almost no restrictions in the first trimester of pregnancy, some restrictions in the second and a ban in the third so long as the life and health of the mother is protected.

Regarding campaign finance, Steel leads the pack by a wide margin. She reported raising just over $1 million in the last quarter of 2023 (including a $300,000 loan), ending the year with about $3 million still left to spend.

In the same quarter, Nguyen-Penaloza, who nabbed the state Democratic Party’s endorsement and has the support of a host of federal, state and local elected officials and organizations, raised $75,484 and has $61,652 cash on hand.

Hunt, who reported a $55,217 haul (including a $20,000 loan), closed out 2023 with $137,409 cash on hand, and Pai reported raising $4,810 with $16,662 still left in the bank.

Tran, the last one to jump into the race, had the second-largest fourth-quarter haul: He raked in $535,304 and ended the year with $364,550 cash on hand.

Primary ballots went out to all registered voters on Monday, Feb. 5. Ballot drop boxes also opened on Monday and voting centers will open on Feb. 24. The Orange County Registrar’s office is providing in-person voting, voter registration, replacement ballots and other general assistance.