Assemblyman quits Senate race

Costa Mesa Assemblyman Van Tran has dropped out of a potentially brutal race for the 34th District California Senate seat and instead will run for reelection, a path of somewhat less resistance.

Tran, 41, announced in January that he’d run for the seat being vacated by termed-out Democratic Sen. Joe Dunn. He had even taken out candidacy papers from the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

But he might have faced a June 6 primary battle with two fellow Republicans, anti-illegal-immigration activist Lupe Moreno and Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher.

He said Tuesday that the contested Senate primary wasn’t the daunting battle ? it was the prospect of Democrats throwing everything into the general election that made him opt to stick with the Assembly race.

“The real fight is the general [election], and I’m very uncertain whether we can have enough funding from the [GOP] leadership and the party to match the Democratic nominee because at the end of the day, this is the No. 1 Democratic defense in the entire state,” Tran said.

“It’s not my comfort level to be rowing out to open sea without knowing that I have a big enough paddle to row back into the shore of safety,” he said.

Tran’s 68th District Assembly seat represents all or part of seven Orange County cities including Costa Mesa and Garden Grove.

Two of the three Republicans who were planning to run for the Assembly seat ? Garden Grove City Councilwoman Janet Nguyen and GOP activist and businessman Jim Righeimer ? said they’ll bow out and support Tran.

The third Republican who was in the race is Long Kim Pham, a nuclear engineer from Fountain Valley. He said Tran asked him Monday night not to run, but he probably won’t make a decision until March 10, the last day to file as a candidate.

“The only concern is that he’s a friend of mine,” Pham said. “That would mean a lot more than whether he’s the incumbent.”

The Republican nominee will face Democrat Paul Lucas and Libertarian Larry D. Allison in November.

Political observers expect a smooth path to reelection for Tran, GOP pollster Adam Probolsky said. He also said Tran dropping out of the Senate race is disappointing.

“I think Van Tran was our best shot at taking back that 34th [District] seat from the Democrats,” he said.

Probolsky said there’s some speculation that Tran could later run for the Orange County Board Of Supervisors if Supervisor Lou Correa, a Democrat, wins the 34th District Senate seat.

But Tran said just focusing on the Assembly race for now and not pursuing any other offices.

Nguyen isn’t sure what her next move is, and Righeimer said he may run for the Assembly seat whenever Tran moves on.

“Someday the seat will come open again and I’ll be there to run for the seat,” Righeimer said. “That’s what’s great about term limits.”dpt.01-tran-BPhotoInfoGR1OFQD620060301ic17mmkf(LA)Van Tran