How a top House race became a fight over communism and identity

The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday. [View in browser]( [Support our nonprofit journalism]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter](     October 4, 2024 Hello, I’m Alex Nguyen, and I’m a reporter working in New York City. In recent election cycles, we've been told that Asian Americans, as the [fastest-growing]( voting group, are [key]( in deciding who wins. Meanwhile, Asian American and Pacific Islanders make up just [0.9 percent]( of elected officials, despite representing 6 percent of the US population. But like all voting narratives about immigrants and their descendants, [it’s more complicated than that](. The AAPI community speaks numerous different languages and spans distinct political histories. For my fellow Vietnamese Americans, that history includes a legacy of colonization, war, and oppression. Many Vietnamese immigrants attribute a significant part of their struggle to communist governments in China and Vietnam. To appeal to these voters, US politicians have often accused opponents of harboring communist sympathies. We've seen it firsthand in this election too, with many conservatives using red-scare rhetoric to condemn progressive social policies—Donald Trump and other figures on the right call Kamala Harris a [Marxist](. So that's what got me interested in [Southern California's 45th congressional seat](, a swing district where Asians make up a plurality of the voting population and the Republican candidate has posted large Vietnamese-language signs that say, "Down With Communism." The race—between the Korean American GOP incumbent and a Vietnamese American Democrat—has become a key battleground, not only in the fight for control of Congress but also in a bitter cultural war over immigration and identity. There's a lot more to say about this House race. It's something quite personal to me as a Vietnamese American whose parents came to the US after the end of the war. You can read my exploration of what drives the district's voters [here](. —Alex Nguyen Advertisement [Cloaked]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [Are You Ready for Another Bush v. Gore? The Supreme Court Is.]( How Trump could win, thanks to just five votes. BY PEMA LEVY MOTHER JONES MEMBERSHIP UPDATE   DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY You’re a Mother Jones Daily reader, so you know the stakes and you know reporting like ours matters so freaking much in the month ahead (and beyond). About that: We need [the support of our newsletter readers like never before]( to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We urgently need all hands on deck. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field. Please help with a donation if you can—even just a few bucks helps. A [monthly gift]( would be incredible. [Donate Now]( [Trending] [The MacArthur winner being investigated for pro-Palestine activism]( BY INAE OH   [One month from Election Day, Helene has snarled the North Carolina voting process]( BY ZOYA TEIRSTEIN AND JAKE BITTLE   [How abortion foes are using transphobia to derail NY's Equal Rights Amendment]( BY MADISON PAULY   [GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan says his Democratic foe Is awful. He once praised her as “great.”]( BY DAVID CORN Advertisement [Cloaked]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [How a top House race became a fight over communism, immigration, and Asian American identity]( “Red-baiting is race-baiting.” BY ALEX NGUYEN Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755