Three more Democratic candidates enter race for CA-45

The race in California’s 45th Congressional District got more crowded with the announcement of two new candidates to the Orange County district last month, but that doesn’t include one other candidate who appeared to have slipped under the radar, according to records from the Federal Elections Commission.

The seat, which includes Garden Grove, Westminster, Cerritos, Fountain Valley, Buena Park, Fullerton, Placentia and Brea, is currently occupied by Rep. Michelle Steel, who won her second term in the U.S. Congress in last year’s midterm elections over Democrat Jay Chen with 53.6% of the votes. Chen has not yet announced if he intends to run again in the 2024 election for the seat.

Garden Grove Councilwoman Kim Bernice Nguyen was the first Democrat entering the ring to unseat Steel, and she is joined by two other Democratic candidates — Cheyenne Hunt and Aditya Pai — who announced their runs for the seat last month.

Cheyenne Hunt has announced a run for the 2024 election of California’s 45th Congressional District against Rep. Michelle Steel.

(Courtesy of Cheyenne Hunt for Congress)

Hunt, 25, an activist and attorney with Public Citizen, said in an April announcement that she was running “because I believe we need leaders who will fight for working families, for our planet, and for justice and equality for all. I’ve seen firsthand how our current representative has failed our community by putting corporate interests ahead of our needs.”

“It’s time for a change, and I’m ready to be that change,” Hunt said.

She is running with the economy, energy and the environment, infrastructure, women’s rights, seniors and veterans and reining in “big tech” as her key issues. If elected, she would be the first Generation Z — roughly marked as those born between 1997 to 2013 — woman elected to Congress. In 2022, Maxwell Frost (D-Florida) made history as the first Generation Z legislator ever elected.

Aditya Pai has announced a run for the 2024 election of California’s 45th Congressional District against Rep. Michelle Steel.

(Courtesy of Aditya Pai for Congress)

Pai, 31, who also announced his run last month, is an attorney and Democrat, making him the third member of that party to announce his bid for the seat.

In a statement, he said, “As our community emerges from a global pandemic, we ought to elect leaders whose vision is fixed firmly forward to brighter days ahead — not the petty squabbles of the past. I’m running because it is time for my generation to step up, and to show how we move past the division, loss, loneliness, and isolation that we have all just endured. Let’s move forward to build a future where the American Dream is a lived reality for all of us.”

In addition to Hunt and Pai, one other candidate appears to have not formally announced his run: Jimmy D. Pham, who recently had an unsuccessful run for Westminster City Council. Pham is a Democrat, according to the FEC.