Southern California’s ‘Little Saigon’ Elects First Vietnamese American mayor

Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Times did a nice profile on Tri Ta, the newly elected mayor of Westminster, California – which happens to be the epicenter of the Vietnamese American community, also known as ‘Little Saigon’:

“Since his election as Westminster’s mayor Tuesday, Ta has been featured on Radio Free Asia, invited to San Jose to meet with Vietnamese leaders and watched as his name rocketed across the Internet, from Houston to Hanoi. … In the decades since the war in Vietnam ended, voters in Little Saigon — which now sprawls across several central Orange County cities — have elected Vietnamese judges, a county supervisor, council members and school board trustees. But the job as Westminster’s mayor remained out of reach until Ta’s election.”

This description kind of reminds me of when Ed Lee was first appointed and then elected as the mayor of San Francisco. But probably the highest profile Vietnamese American political leader is probably still former Congressman ‘Joseph’ Cao.