Van Tran

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Assemblyman Van Tran

Van Thai Tran (Trần Thái Văn in Vietnamese, born October 19, 1964) is a U.S. politician, currently serving as a Republican member of the California State Assembly, representing portions of Orange County. Tran and Texas State Representative Hubert Vo are the highest-ranking Vietnamese American elected officials in U.S. history; Tran took office one month before Vo did, making him the first Vietnamese American to serve in a state legislature. He currently serves as Assistant Republican Leader.

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Tran and his family emigrated to the United States after being evacuated by the United States Army one week before the Fall of Saigon, when he was 10 years old. After originally settling in Michigan, they moved to Orange County when Tran was a teenager.

Tran worked as an intern for Congressman Bob Dornan and for State Senator Ed Royce while a student at the University of California, Irvine, where he earned a B.A. in Political Science in 1990. Tran completed an MA in Public Administration from Hamline University and a J.D. from Hamline University School of Law.

In 2000, Tran was elected to the Garden Grove City Council 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 was the first when he was elected to the city council of neighboring Westminster in 1992). After serving one term on the council, Tran was elected to the California State Assembly with 61% of the vote in 2004, representing the 68th District.

Tran is the Vice Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. He also serves on the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee and the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee.

Tran married Cindy Nguyen on November 20, 2004, 18 days after his election to the Assembly.

On December 21, 2005, Tran announced that he would launch an exploratory committee for a 2006 run against Democratic Assemblyman Tom Umberg in the race for the State Senate seat being vacated by term limited Democrat Joe Dunn.[1] Tran opted not to join the race, allowing Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher to win the Republican nomination with nominal opposition, and she went on to lose the general election by a 1% margin to Supervisor Lou Correa, a former Assemblyman, who had defeated Umberg in the Democratic primary.

On November 7, 2006, Tran was re-elected to the Assembly with 62% of the vote.