Vietnamese challenger accuses Sanchez of ‘racial rampage’

A Republican state assemblyman looking challenging Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) accused the congresswoman of a “racial rampage” in denouncing her comments about the Vietnamese community.

Sanchez said in an interview on Univision this week: “The Vietnamese and the Republicans are — with intensity — trying to
take away this seat, this seat for which we have already done so much
for our community. [Taking] this seat from us and [giving] it to this
Van Tran, who’s very anti-immigrant and very anti-Hispanic.”

Van Tran told the Los Angeles Times that he believes Sanchez’s remarks will hurt her standing with the Vietnamese community. About 18 percent of the voters in her district, which includes Southern California’s “Little Saigon,” are Asian.

“This is a mischaracterization that there is an alleged wedge between the Vietnamese and Latino community,” he told the Times. Latino voters make up about 44 percent of the district.

Her campaign released a statement saying Sanchez was referring to
“those in the Vietnamese community who are supporting her opponent.”

Furthermore, Tran said he wrote a letter to Sanchez’s office asking for an apology. “With such a diverse immigrant population that call central Orange
County home, you should know better than stoking the flames of racial
division in our community,” he wrote.

Tran will appear on Univision’s “Al Punto” on Sunday to respond to the congresswoman’s comments.