The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) Independent Expenditure arm released its first-ever Vietnamese language TV ad in California’s 48th congressional district on Wednesday, taking aim at Orange County Board of Supervisors chairwoman and Republican congressional hopeful Michelle Steel.
Titled “Rules,” the 30-second spot accuses Steel of corruption and “rampant misconduct,” and will air on the Asian cable outlet VietFaceTV as part of the DCCC’s initial $45,000 ad buy that was announced in August.
Steel, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Rep. Harley Rouda as a member of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “Young Guns” program, was swept up in controversy in 2018 when Orange County supervisors alleged she campaigned with public funds. After two of her political allies were charged with running an illegal jail informant program in 2018, she proposed defunding the county’s Office of Independent Review, which oversees the sheriff and district attorney offices.
Rouda also claimed in August that Steel prioritized corporate interests after the OC Board of Supervisors awarded an exclusive bid for a 35-year contract to the private jet company ACI Jet, one of her largest donors.
“Michelle Steel’s crooked record of only looking out for herself and her political allies, tells the voters all they need to know—Michelle Steel is Orange County’s most corrupt career politician,” DCCC Spokesperson Andy Orellana said in a statement. “After all these years in Orange County politics, Steel thinks the rules the rest of us follow don’t apply to her, and that if she went to Washington she would only look out for herself and her political pals, not everyday families.”
The DCCC has been increasingly investing in Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) outreach in recent months, and House Democrats have their sights on Vietnamese American voters—who have been a growing political force in Orange County.
Five fellows working under the DCCC and Rouda campaign are now responsible for different areas of outreach, including running phone bank trainings, translating materials, sign placement, and educating the community about candidates and voting, Deputy National Press Secretary and AAPI Media Advisor Darwin Pham told The Yappie.
Organizers have so far called over 3,000 voters and sent more than 12,000 texts to the Vietnamese community in both Vietnamese and English; a majority of the calls and texts were in Vietnamese.
“It speaks to the growing power of this community and how we are adapting our outreach to gain the edge,” Pham said.
Steel is running along party lines, opposing abortion rights, gay marriage, and pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Her campaign website highlights her pledges to lower taxes and prescription drug prices, increase hospital resources, and “fix our broken healthcare system.”
Steel opposed the Affordable Care Act when it was first rolled out in California, and the Orange County Register reported in February that she also supports a border wall with Mexico and promises to protect beaches. Steel is a co-chair of President Donald Trump’s Advisory Commission on AAPIs.
The DCCC ads come almost a week after Rouda and other Democratic elected officials distanced themselves from former Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC) Vice Chair Jeff LeTourneau, who resigned last Wednesday after coming under fire for sharing a Facebook post praising Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh.
