Democrat Phu Nguyen is the vice president of a remittance company for Vietnamese-Americans and has strong ties to local groups in Little Saigon, the Vietnamese enclave around Westminster and Garden Grove. Orange County Vietnamese immigrants have traditionally voted Republican, but some experts believe they may shift their support to Nguyen.
"Vietnamese are clearly sensitive to being immigrants here because many of them are such recent arrivals," said Tony Quinn, a Sacramento political analyst. "That is dangerous ground for Mansoor."
Mansoor is the son of two immigrants — a mother from the Aland Islands, a region of Finland, and a father from Egypt. While Mansoor acknowledges his heritage, he doesn't publicly embrace it nearly as much as Nguyen, whose website appears in Vietnamese, English and Spanish.
"I grew up with an American culture, but that doesn't mean that my parents' heritage was diminished in any way," Mansoor said.
Ethnic allegiances may be key in the fall contest.
Veteran political consultant Allan Hoffenblum said Vietnamese account for about 20% of voters in the Assembly district, and they could turn out for Nguyen because he's more aligned with their issues.
One such voter is Nguyen Thengoc, 78, a Fountain Valley resident who has voted reliably Republican for the past 10 years. An immigrant, Thengoc said that Mansoor hasn't reached out to the Vietnamese community, while Nguyen comes to all of its events.
"We need someone who works for the American community, and also works for ethnic Americans," he said.
