Derek Tran Bio
Derek Truyen Tran (born Duc Truyen Tran; December 22, 1980) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative from California’s 45th congressional district since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, Tran is the third Vietnamese American elected to Congress and the first to represent California. He earned his undergraduate degree from Bentley University and his law degree from Glendale University College of Law, and he practiced as a personal injury and employment attorney before founding the Tran Firm in 2020.
Born in Los Angeles County to Vietnamese refugee parents, Tran served eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve before pursuing a legal career. He defeated Republican incumbent Michelle Steel in 2024 by a narrow margin, making the race one of the closest in the country that year. Tran lives in Orange, California, with his wife, Michelle, and their three children.
Early Life and Background
Derek Truyen Tran was born on December 22, 1980, in Los Angeles County, California. He grew up in the San Gabriel Valley as the son of Vietnamese refugees. His father fled Vietnam in 1975 after the fall of Saigon as a boat person, and during the escape their boat capsized, resulting in the deaths of his first wife and children. Tran’s father later returned to Vietnam, where he met Tran’s mother. After living in a refugee camp for about a year, his parents immigrated to the United States and established a corner store to support the family.
Tran has said that his family’s reliance on government assistance, including SNAP, WIC, and Section 8 housing, inspired him to enlist in the United States Army at age 18 without telling his parents or friends. He spent eight years serving in the U.S. Army Reserve, including time training at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos. He was activated for Operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom before receiving an honorable discharge.
After his military service, Tran attended Bentley University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree, and later obtained a Juris Doctor from Glendale University College of Law. In 2012, he moved to Orange County, California, where he began building his professional life. Tran is a practicing Buddhist.
Path to US Politics
Tran practiced as a personal injury and employment attorney after earning his law degree, working in the legal field from 2014 onward. In 2020, he founded his own law firm, the Tran Firm, based in Huntington Beach. The firm later became defunct after it was acquired in 2023 by Feher Law, a practice based in Torrance. During this period, Tran also served on the board of the Consumer Attorneys Association of America and was appointed traffic commissioner for the city of Orange.
Tran’s path to elected office began at the end of 2023, when he announced that he would enter the 2024 all-party top-two primary in California’s 45th congressional district. HuffPost reported that, unlike other Democratic candidates who lacked financial support, Tran was a significant fundraiser according to Federal Election Commission data. The district, considered a competitive battleground, covers parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties, including the predominantly Vietnamese cities of Westminster, Fountain Valley, and Garden Grove in Little Saigon, along with the predominantly Asian American communities of Artesia and Cerritos.
Tran’s campaign emphasized the centrality of his Vietnamese American identity to his bid. With his wife, he co-owns a pharmacy in Anaheim. By the end of August 2024, Tran admitted to the Los Angeles Times that he had lost his childhood fluency in Vietnamese and had since spoken “broken Vietnamese.” His campaign later released a series of video clips in which he occasionally spoke Vietnamese on television.
Derek Tran Career
Early Career (2014–2023)
Derek Truyen Tran’s professional career began in 2014, when he started working as a personal injury and employment attorney in Southern California. He built a reputation representing workers whose employment had been terminated due to workplace incidents. In 2020, he founded the Tran Firm, his own law practice in Huntington Beach, focusing on personal injury and employment law.
The firm operated for several years before being acquired in 2023 by Feher Law, a Torrance-based practice. During these years, Tran also served on the board of the Consumer Attorneys Association of America and was appointed traffic commissioner for the city of Orange. He and his wife also co-owned a pharmacy in Anaheim during this period.
2024 House Election (2024–2025)
In March 2024, 23 days after the primary, results determined that Republican incumbent Michelle Steel had finished first, while Tran placed second by finishing ahead of Kim Nguyen-Penaloza by 366 votes. Steel was running for a third term in what was considered a competitive battleground district. The race drew national attention due to its competitiveness and ultimately became the most expensive House campaign in the country, with at least $46 million spent.
Both candidates competed for support from the district’s Vietnamese community. On October 19, 2024, Steel told a Vietnamese television station, VietFace TV, that she was “more Vietnamese than my opponent” due to a better understanding of the Vietnamese community. Tran challenged her claim, saying it was “insulting and disgraceful.” Steel’s campaign also rejected Tran’s claims of proficiency in Vietnamese, noting his usage of a translator, though The New York Times reported that some Vietnamese in Little Saigon felt claims of fluency were irrelevant to Tran’s Vietnamese identity.
The candidates exchanged accusations of communist sympathies, with some outlets identifying the remarks as red-baiting. Tran accused Steel’s husband, Shawn Steel, of accepting bribes from the Chinese Communist Party in exchange for information, and called attention to Michelle Steel’s personal loan of a million dollars to her own campaign. Steel’s campaign later mailed fliers associating Tran with Mao Zedong and the hammer and sickle, warning he intended to “take our country back to socialism.” Sixteen Asian American nonprofits wrote to the Orange County chairs of both political parties, stating that rhetoric implying Asian American candidates were “national security threats” should not be used.
In October 2024, Hakeem Jeffries stumped for Tran at a campaign event in Anaheim, and Bill Clinton appeared in Orange County to campaign for Tran and Dave Min. Twenty-one days after the election, Tran held a lead over Steel by 581 votes and declared victory to LAist. The next day, Steel conceded, and the Associated Press called the race for Tran. Altogether, Tran defeated Steel in the general election by just 653 votes out of nearly 316,000 cast, making the race one of the closest in the 2024 election cycle.
119th Congress Era (2025–Present)
Derek Truyen Tran was sworn into the 119th United States Congress on January 3, 2025, and was appointed to the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Small Business. Following the widescale federal layoffs by the Department of Government Efficiency in 2025, Tran introduced legislation that would reinstate veterans terminated without a reason. The Associated Press observed that while Tran’s bill was unlikely to pass due to Republican control of the House, it exemplified how Democrats were trying to harness public backlash to the Trump administration’s efforts.
In May 2025, Tran was chosen to co-lead the Democratic Party’s congressional National Security Task Force alongside Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, and Mikie Sherrill. He regarded the Russo-Ukrainian war and the Chinese Communist Party, especially regarding the political status of Taiwan, as pressing national security issues. In March 2025, Tran split from his party and voted for a bill intended to curb foreign influences in American higher education, warning against the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in U.S. academic institutions.
On immigration, Tran has criticized mass deportations as inhumane and advocated for comprehensive reform, including prioritizing border security through technology and officer training, modernizing asylum procedures, and providing a path to citizenship for productive undocumented immigrants. In 2025, he was one of 46 House Democrats who broke from their party in voting for the Laken Riley Act, and later drew criticism from the Vietnamese immigrant rights group VietRISE for voting for a resolution expressing gratitude to members of law enforcement, including ICE. He has expressed support for protecting Medicare and Social Security, and advocated for increasing federal funding for affordable housing initiatives.
Notable Events and Milestones
Tran’s narrow defeat of Michelle Steel by 653 votes in 2024 made the race one of the closest in the election cycle and the most expensive House campaign in the country, with at least $46 million spent. His 2024 campaign emphasized his identity as the son of Vietnamese refugees, a theme that became central to the race as both candidates vied for support from the district’s Vietnamese community. His appointment to co-lead the Democratic Party’s congressional National Security Task Force in May 2025 marked an early leadership role in his first term in Congress.
Derek Tran Career Wins
Derek Truyen Tran’s primary electoral win came in the 2024 general election, when he defeated Republican incumbent Michelle Steel in California’s 45th congressional district by just 653 votes out of nearly 316,000 cast. The race was one of the closest in the 2024 election cycle and the most expensive House campaign in the country.
2024 House Election Highlights
Tran placed second in the March 2024 all-party top-two primary, finishing 366 votes ahead of Kim Nguyen-Penaloza. He went on to defeat Steel in the November 2024 general election, securing the seat for California’s 45th congressional district. The Associated Press called the race for Tran after Steel conceded the day after the election.
Derek Tran Family
Family Background and Political Lineage
Derek Truyen Tran was raised in the San Gabriel Valley as the son of Vietnamese refugees. His father fled Vietnam in 1975 after the fall of Saigon as a boat person, and during the escape their boat capsized, resulting in the deaths of his first wife and children. Tran’s father later returned to Vietnam, where he met Tran’s mother. After living in a refugee camp for about a year, his parents immigrated to the United States and established a corner store to support the family.
Personal Life
Tran lives in the city of Orange, California, with his wife, Michelle (Michelle Nguyen), and their three children. He is a practicing Buddhist. With his wife, Tran co-owns a pharmacy in Anaheim.