The final results for the June 3rd Primary have finally been posted. Long Pham, candidate for the Orange County Board of Education District 1 was elected to replace 4 term incumbent Felix Rocha Jr. Pham beat him by less than 900 votes, 19,936 to 19,057. Both Pham and Rocha are Republicans. The Democrats did not run a candidate in this race, for whatever reason.
What is truly amazing about this win is that Long Pham has been a candidate for some sort of office for the last 14 years. Long Pham has never been considered a serious candidate or contender to any of the offices he has ever run for, including OC Board of Education. Long has never received an endorsement from any Political Office Holder or any Political Party. Felix Rocha did not put any signs up and he did not pay for a ballot statement. Nobody believed Long Pham would win this race.
Here is a brief rundown of Long’s past elections for those not familiar with his campaign history:
1994 – Ran for Newport Beach City Council, he lost with 19.5%.
1995 – Ran for State Senate in a Special Election to replace Marian Bergeson. Long ran against Ross Johnson, Gil Ferguson (Oliver North campaigned for Ferguson) and Doris Allen. Long lost and garnered 2.2%.
1998 – Ran for US Congress against Dana Rohrabacher, he received 6%.
2000 – Ran for Congress again against Dana Rohrabacher, he lost once again but this time with 7.5%.
2004 – Ran for State Assembly, he lost to Chuck Devore in the primary and received 3.1%.
2006 – Ran for State Assembly against Van Tran, he lost with 12.7%.
This win intrigued me. I am not a journalist, to tell you the truth I have no idea what I’m doing right now. So why am I writing? Because Long represents everything that is right about American politics. Anyone who has ever thought of running for public office will tell you that getting on the ballot is fairly easy to do. Most people stay away because they think they have no chance of winning, and for the most part they are right. Who exactly is “they?” We all are. All of us have bought into that thinking. All of us except Long that is. Long embodies the American Spirit in all of us that believes we have just as much a right as anybody else to be on the ballot.
Long Pham is an everyman, an average Joe, basically someone who has no business running for Congress, at least in the eyes of the establishment. That got me thinking? Who are they to tell us we can’t run for office? Who are “they” to tell us we have no chance of winning?
I think I laughed when I first saw the Long Pham for Assembly sign in 2006. A lot of people did, I almost laughed when I saw the Long Pham for OC Board of Education sign this year. All of us in Orange County can smile today, because today the little guy won, the underdog kept the lead he had going into the fourth quarter, the no shot contender avoided a knockout from the long time champ while leading on points heading into the 12th and final round. Congratulations Long, I don’t think anyone is laughing now.
And here’s the rub – Pham is now a superstar in the Vietnamese community – right up there with Supervisor Janet Nguyen and Assemblyman Van Tran. But now, as ever, he is his own man. All hail the Phammies!
Exclusive bonus video coverage below:
El Luchador: Great piece…good coverage.
Felix was elected in 1992 at the beginning of the Latino wave of political clout.
He has been replaced in a new wave of Viet political clout.
It will be interesting what the future elections will bring to central Orange County.
And he will do what on the OC Board of Education? Not a word….
I agree with El Luchador that the election of Long Pham is the success story of the spring. I like that the candidate who is not expected to win pulls out the votes to win. Of course you would hope that it was because people believed in him but its just as likely that they disbelieved in Rocha or disbelieved in Republicans in general and Rocha suffered as a result.
Watching the Viet and Latino communities assimilate into the larger community is heart warming and heart wrenching at the same time. Every subclass who has assimilated in this melting pot has had similar experiences so I guess each group has to make similar mistakes and enjoy similar successes as they become Americanized.
While the focus here is on Bustamemte, Pullido, Van Tran and Janet Nguyen there are many great Hispanic and Vietnamese Americans working their way into the fabric of society and quietly doing the public service work we demand of their office. I wish each and every one of them well and they have my appreciation for stepping up and doing the work.
Long, Mary and the kids….are wonderful people…
and we couldn’t be more pleased by Long’s election. We became close friends in 1994…during the Newport Beach City Council Race!
Long was the first one to bring up two very important issues. What they were doing to our water….in Newport Beach and the possible computer manipulation of the OC election process.
“possible computer manipulation of the OC election process.”
Winship are You inferring that the ROV plays with the computer numbers right under the noses of all those observer’s at the Grand Ave headquarters?
Just what we need, another Steve Rocco.