DCCC targets California Asian American voters in first paid ads of 2026 cycle - Roll Call

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s first paid ads of the 2026 election cycle target Asian American voters in several Southern California swing districts.

The print ads, shared first with CQ Roll Call, will run in Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean community newspapers in Orange County covering three House battlegrounds: 

• The 40th District, located in eastern Orange County and held by Republican Young Kim.
• The 45th, which includes California’s Little Saigon and saw Democrat Derek Tran flip the seat last year.
• The 47th, which covers coastal Orange County and the city of Irvine and was won by Democrat Dave Min last fall.

The DCCC did not disclose the amount of the ad buy but said it was “five figures.”

All three districts are expected to be highly competitive and viewed as key to determining control of the House in 2026, when Republicans are defending their razor-thin majority.

“With the DCCC’s first paid ad campaign of the 2026 midterm cycle, we’re meeting Asian American voters — a key constituency in the fight for the House majority — where they’re at and making clear that they deserve better than Republicans in Washington who are making it harder for families to thrive,’’ Sarah Lin, the DCCC’s national Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander engagement director, said in a statement.

In the ads, Democrats focus on an economic message. “Prices are up, and the stock market is shaky — all thanks to Republicans in D.C.,’’ one of the ads states in Korean. “When leadership fails, our families suffer. We deserve better.”

“This isn’t what we worked for. Prices are up, and the stock market is shaky — all thanks to Republicans in D.C. like Young Kim,” states another ad in Chinese.

Kim was first elected in 2020 as one of the first Korean American women to serve in Congress, along with fellow California Republican Michelle Steel and Washington Democrat Marilyn Strickland. With Steel’s loss last year, Kim is now the only House Republican to represent Orange County, a once deeply conservative region that has shifted politically and demographically in recent decades. 

At least five Democrats are vying to unseat Kim. They include 2024 nominee Joe Kerr, a career firefighter and labor union leader who lost to the incumbent by more than 10 points; Christina Gagnier, an attorney and former member of the Chino Valley school board; art dealer Esther Kim Varet; consultant Paula Swift; and nonprofit official Nina Linh.

Tran became the first Vietnamese American to represent Little Saigon after unseating Steel in 2024 by just over 650 votes out of more than 300,000 votes cast. The freshman does not have a high-profile GOP opponent as yet, though Steel has signaled that she is considering a comeback bid. Tran made CQ Roll’s recent list of the top 10 most vulnerable House incumbents of the 2026 cycle.

Min, the child of Korean immigrants and a former state senator, defeated Republican Scott Baugh last fall to succeed Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate. 

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