Derek Tran Puts His Thumb on the Scale in the CA-45 Republican Primary

A campaign mailer paid for by Derek Tran For Congress is hitting Republican households in the district, painting Chi Charlie Nguyen as a committed MAGA loyalist. Of all the Republicans running in CA-45, he may be exactly the opponent Tran wants.

A campaign mailer paid for by Derek Tran For Congress has been arriving in Republican households across California's 45th District, and it does something unusual for opposition research: it works pretty hard to make Chi Charlie Nguyen sound like exactly what Republican primary voters want.

The piece leads with the word "REPUBLICAN" in large type, then announces in bold: "CHI CHARLIE NGUYEN — WILL SUPPORT TRUMP'S MAGA AGENDA IN CONGRESS." It lists what Nguyen "claims he will do" — lower costs, support law enforcement, enforce immigration laws. Then it warns that what he will "really do" is support Trump's MAGA agenda and extremism, citing his vote to name a Westminster street after the late Charlie Kirk. The sources credited on the mailer: ABC7 and Fox News.

The framing is nominally negative. The practical effect is to hand Republican primary voters a curated profile of Nguyen as a committed conservative, built by the incumbent he is running against.

The logic is familiar

California runs a top-two primary. Every voter in the district picks from the same ballot in June 2026, and the two candidates with the most votes advance to November, regardless of party. Tran, as the Democratic incumbent, is a near-certain top-two finisher. His real strategic question is not whether he advances, but who he faces in the general.

During the 2024 California Senate primary, Adam Schiff's campaign ran ads portraying Republican Steve Garvey as a far-right conservative and sent them toward Republican voters. Critics, including rival Katie Porter, publicly said the intent was to elevate Garvey over stronger Democratic competition and set up a more winnable general election matchup. Garvey advanced to the general. Schiff won the seat.

Political analysts described it at the time as a front-runner using the primary as a sorting mechanism: boost the opponent you think you can beat most easily, then let the voters do the rest. The Tran mailer follows the same logic. It does not say "vote for Nguyen." It just makes sure Republicans know he's their guy.

Why Nguyen

Of the Republicans running in CA-45, Nguyen comes with the most complicated record, which may be exactly the point.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission opened a formal investigation into Nguyen in April 2026, Case No. 2026-00278, after a sworn complaint was filed. He cast the deciding vote to bar Councilmember Amy Phan West, one of his congressional opponents, from speaking at official Westminster city events. At a conservative grassroots candidate forum, comments he reportedly made about Sharia law drew enough concern that the California Republican Assembly endorsed rival Chuong Vo instead. And the Charlie Kirk street naming he led in November 2025, following Kirk's assassination, went viral on TikTok and drew attention from across the political spectrum.

Nguyen has run as an unapologetically pro-Trump conservative since entering the CA-45 race in August 2025. As ABC7 reported in March 2026, he has described himself as "a conservative Republican who supports President Trump and his America First agenda." That record gives a general election opponent an extensive menu of material to work with.

The other Republican challengers present cleaner profiles and broader coalitions. Tom Vo led the Republican field in fundraising with $502,800 on hand heading into the year. Amy Phan West has built a cross-community donor base. Chuong Vo earned key endorsements from Republican grassroots organizations. None of them carry the same accumulated liabilities heading into a general election against a Democratic incumbent.

What makes this disingenuous

There is something worth naming about this tactic, even if it is technically legal and tactically rational. A sitting congressman is spending donor money to tell Republican voters who they should be excited about. Not because he believes Nguyen would be a good congressman. Because he believes Nguyen would be the easiest opponent to face in November.

Republican primary voters who received this mailer got a portrait of Nguyen designed not to inform them but to activate them, shaped entirely by the candidate running against him. Democratic donors who funded the Tran campaign had no way of knowing their contributions were going toward mailers promoting a Republican primary candidate. Neither group was told what the play actually was.

Voters are supposed to choose their representatives. This tactic runs the calculation in reverse: a sitting representative tries to influence who his future opponent will be before a single primary vote is cast.

What to watch

Whether the mailer moves Republican voters toward Nguyen, or whether it backfires by alerting them that a Democratic incumbent is trying to shape their primary, is an open question. The June 2026 primary will answer it.