Anti-communists in Name Only? Investigating Dynamic Political Ideology Among Generations of Vietnamese and Korean Americans

Our study presents a puzzle from the 2024 general elections in Orange County (CA 45th district). While Orange County has historically been conservative (McGirr 2015), our study addresses how a former “red” district represented by Korean American, Michelle Steel, flipped to a “blue” district represented by a Vietnamese American, Derek Tran. We argue that Tran’s success was contingent on multiple factors including a co-ethnic voter bloc (Vietnamese Americans) and a change in ideological priorities. Despite Vietnamese Americans and Korean Americans both having legacies of conservative “anti-communism” in their group political ideologies (Dang 2005; Chung 2007), our study investigates how these ideologies among Korean and Vietnamese Americans have transformed in California and the United States. Using ethnographic walk-throughs and interviews with Korean and Vietnamese diasporas in Orange County, San Jose, and Los Angeles we present data that suggests traditional anti-communism has changed generationally, therefore, explaining new political priorities such as justice.