The Little Saigon contest for a California Assembly seat shows the strength — and the growing diversity — of the community.

While the outcome of the race for California's 72nd Assembly District is still up in the air, one thing is certain: a woman with the surname "Nguyen" will prevail.

Taking place in an area in Southern California that's home to the largest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam, the contest pits Republican Janet Nguyen, 44, a former state senator, against Democrat Diedre Nguyen, 45, a cancer scientist who is a member of the Garden Grove City Council. The race reflects not only the political stature the Vietnamese American community has built over the past 30 years, but also the shifts within it.

Nationwide, Vietnamese Americans have also tended to be more conservative than other Asian groups. By 48 percent to 36 percent, they are the only cohort that favored President Donald Trump over Joe Biden, according to a survey released in September by the research firm AAPI Data. But like the rest of Orange County — whose entire congressional delegation turned blue in 2018 — Little Saigon has become more liberal over the past decade, albeit more slowly. Before the election last week, Republicans in the 72nd District held just a 2-point advantage in voter registration.

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