Early primary election results Tuesday night show former GOP state senator Janet Nguyen with a solid lead over first-term Republican incumbent Assemblyman Tyler Diep and two other challengers in the narrowly red 72nd Assembly District.
Garden Grove Councilwoman Diedre Nguyen and civil rights attorney Bijan Mohseni, both Democrats, are in third and fourth place, respectively. Initial results include only a portion of mail-in ballots.
The top two vote-getters on March 3, regardless of party, will advance to the November general election.
See the latest election results
AD-72 — which covers northern coastal Orange County, from Garden Grove to Seal Beach — became one of the most closely watched primary races in California after Diep of Westminster lost the backing of the Republican Party of Orange County over votes he cast in Sacramento that were deemed by party officials to be too union-friendly. That sentiment prompted fellow Republican Janet Nguyen to enter the race.
But it’s unclear how much sway the county GOP group holds over area voters. The party holds a registration advantage of less than one percentage point in a district that was once solidly red. In 2016, district voters chose Hillary Clinton for president.
That political landscape attracted Democratic challengers Diedre Nguyen and Mohseni to the race.
Diep drew criticism from others in the GOP last year, when he was the only Republican in the Assembly to vote for AB-5, a controversial bill that limits the use of part-time workers in California. He also supported a union-backed labor agreement in Anaheim and has received donations from organized labor. An independent political committee funded by California Medical, Dental and Apartment associations has spent $163,480 on mailers and online advertising for Diep, while the California Chamber of Commerce and another political committee have spent nearly $40,000 opposing him.
Diep, who’s Vietnamese American, said he stands behind his record representing his purple district.
“A few political insiders have made it their agenda to distort my record as I have done my best to represent my district in Sacramento,” he said.
Diep, 37, noted he has also received endorsements from taxpayer and public safety groups and from some in the GOP, such as Republican Senate Leader Shannon Grove.
If reelected, Diep is pledging to continue fighting tax hikes, to cut red tape for businesses and to push back against early release of criminals. He’s spent big money on his campaign in recent weeks, with $226,449 in campaign cash left as of Friday, Feb. 28.
Janet Nguyen of Fountain Valley entered the AD-72 race against Diep just before the December deadline, and the two have been sparring online and in mailers ever since.
Janet Nguyen, 43, has been the first woman and Vietnamese-American to hold several local and state seats. She started on the Garden Grove City Council in 2004, won an OC Supervisor seat in 2007 and became a State Senator in 2014. She was named 2017 legislator of the year by the Vietnam Veterans of America, but was narrowly voted out of her SD-34 seat in 2018. She’s now serving as a board member on the Orange County Foundation.
Janet Nguyen, who’s also Vietnamese American, touts her record fighting for lower taxes and securing grant money for local schools. She has $139,168 in campaign cash on hand.
One Democratic challenger for AD-72 is Diedre Nguyen, who’s a cancer scientist and a second degree black belt in the Korean martial art Hapkido.
Diedre Nguyen was elected to Garden Grove City Council in 2016 and reelected by a larger margin in 2018. She’s also been active with community organizations and events, including serving as a board member for the Lunar New Year TET Parade/Festival.
If elected, Diedre Nguyen wants to take on healthcare costs, college tuition hikes and securing retirement savings. She has endorsements from a slew of elected Democrats, including State Treasurer Fiona Ma and Rep. Lou Correa. She’s sitting on $90,218 in campaign cash.
As a lawyer, Mohseni, 27, of Los Alamitos, worked on a case to protect transgender military service members that was heard in the US Supreme Court. Mohseni, the son of an Iranian immigrant father and Latina mother, is also a classically trained pianist.
A political newcomer, Mohseni is rejecting corporate money and doesn’t have establishment backing. But he’s mounting a solid campaign, with detailed plans to fight for progressive issues such as universal preschool, blocking offshore oil drilling and equal pay for women.
Mohseni had $2,627 in cash heading into the March 3 primary.