The first Vietnamese American in the country was elected to public office 16 years ago when Tony Lam won a seat on the Westminster City Council, making history for a refugee group that fled after the Vietnam War and settled in Orange County.
Lam's election made national headlines and Vietnamese leaders had high hopes that he would become the bridge to help connect mainstream America and the Vietnamese.
At the time, demographics hardly helped Lam: Only 2,000 Vietnamese Americans in Westminster were registered to vote, and Vietnamese Americans made up only one-fifth of the city's residents.
Since Lam's election, Orange County has become the center of Vietnamese American political power. And this year, Westminster could become the first city in America with a Vietnamese-majority council. It would be a milestone for the small, conservative city transformed by refugees into the thriving business and cultural enclave of Little Saigon...
