Mayor Pro Tem Jessie Lopez Endorses Derek Tran for CA-45

Jan

2024

PRESS RELEASE

Mayor Pro Tem Jessie Lopez Endorses Derek Tran for CA-45

Garden Grove, CA — Today, Workers’ Rights Advocate, U.S. Army Veteran, Consumer Rights Attorney, City Commissioner, and Small Business Owner Derek Tran, who is running in California’s 45th Congressional District, announced the endorsement of Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Jessie Lopez. Lopez recently defeated a recall by special interest groups and is well-known for her stances protecting renters, increasing government transparency, and fighting corruption in Orange County.

"I enthusiastically support Derek Tran for Congress against Michelle Steel,” said Mayor Pro Tem Lopez. “Democrats need a candidate who is doing the real work to unseat Steel, and a candidate who will reject the same special interests which spend regularly against Democrats. Derek has shown his dedication to our values time and again, as a veteran, city commissioner, workers’ rights attorney, small business owner, and as a father of 3. Let’s get Derek to Congress!”

Mayor Pro Tem Lopez’s endorsement is the latest in a wave of local elected officials who back Tran’s candidacy:

Carlos Manzo, Westminster Councilmember
Sergio Contreras, Midway City Sanitary District Director
Tiffany Ackley, Aliso Viejo City Councilmember
Ryan Dack, South Orange County Community College District Trustee
Johnathan Ryan Hernandez, Santa Ana City Councilmember
Sara Hernandez, LA Community College District Trustee
Benjamin Vazquez, Santa Ana Councilmember
Annie Warne, Magnolia School District Trustee

Derek also sports endorsements from VoteVets, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Chair of the California House Democratic Delegation, Rep. Mark Takano, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and Rep. Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Tran announced his run under 3 months ago, establishing himself as a frontrunner by raising three times what the combined Democratic field raised for Q3 2023 in just two weeks.

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California’s 45th is a Congressional District representing portions of Orange and Los Angeles Counties in Southern California. A majority-minority district, the District has the second largest AAPI population (36.97%) of any Congressional District, and the largest Vietnamese community in the country. President Biden won the current district lines by +6 points and it has a +6 point Democratic registration advantage. It includes all or part of the Cities of Garden Grove, Westminster, Cerritos, Buena Park, Placentia, Hawaiian Gardens, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Artesia, Los Alamitos, La Palma, Brea, Lakewood, and Fullerton, as well as the unincorporated community of Rossmoor.

The DCCC has listed it as a “District In Play.”

Use of Derek Tran's military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Dept. of Defense or U.S. Army.