Campaign flyers written in Vietnamese began arriving in mailboxes in Little Saigon earlier this month.

One flyer showed Derek Tran, a Democrat running for Congress, smiling in front of the Chinese Communist Party’s hammer and sickle emblem. Another photo shows Tran next to Mao Zedong with a caption that reads, “Don’t let Derek Tran take our country back to socialism,” translated into English.

These mailers, sent by the campaign of Rep. Michelle Steele (R-Seal Beach), infuriated some voters in the 45th Congressional District. This district is home to Little Saigon and is home to the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam.

“We all know that campaigns can get very ugly,” said Cynthia Choi, a member of Chinese for Affirmative Action and Stop AAPI Hate. “And what’s really troubling is the fact that this is an old scenario. Unfortunately, it can be very effective.”

He added: “It’s very unfortunate that Asian American candidates are using red-bait tactics.”

Mr. Steele, 69, is in a high-stakes and bitter re-election battle with Mr. Tran, 44, as Democrats seek to take back the seat from Republicans.

Republicans hold a slim majority in the House. The race is one of a handful across the country, including six in California, that both parties view as crucial in determining control of the next Congress.

Tran’s campaign is focused on Vietnamese American voters, hoping his story as the son of Vietnamese refugees will help flip the district from red to blue.

Steele is also pushing to shore up support among Vietnamese voters, particularly those who fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and have remained loyal to the Republican Party for decades.

Steele’s flyer says Tran has the support of “socialists like Bernie Sanders.” (Mr. Tran said that Mr. Sanders does not support him.)

Two of the flyers contain translated quotes from a story About parliamentary elections Co-chairman of the Communist Party of Southern California wrote for the Marxist-Leninist publication People’s World.

The citation reads, “Tran, a first-time candidate, exceeded all expectations by defeating an opponent who had the full support of the Democratic Party establishment in the primary.” . In the March primary, Tran defeated Garden Grove City Council member Kim Nguyen Penaloza by a margin of 367 votes, placing second behind Steele.

Another emailer said Tran owns “thousands of dollars of virtual currency associated with China” and has an account on TikTok, a social media platform owned by Chinese company ByteDance. It emphasizes its relationship with China.

Tran said in August. Financial disclosure He reportedly holds between $33,005 and $145,000 in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies through the exchange platform Binance. (China Prohibited virtual currency transactions In 2021. )

“It’s a very dirty, dirty trick,” Tran said. “This is a desperate attempt by the losing camp. She’s throwing everything at the wall, including the kitchen sink, to see what sticks.”

Steele’s campaign said the emailers had been tracking Tran’s attack ads, tweets and news releases for months criticizing Steele’s husband, Sean Steele, a former California Republican Party chairman. .sell access” to the Communist Party of China.

In one Tran campaign ad, ran on facebook In September and October, as the Chinese flag waved in the background, a narrator said in Vietnamese that Steele’s husband “bred Chinese spies into American politics in exchange for money.” The ad tells viewers, “We can’t trust Michelle Steele to stand up to China.”

The advertisement mentions Wall Street Journal article According to reports from 2020, Steele’s husband invited multiple Chinese guests, including a “man who works for China’s central government,” to an “invite-only gathering” of Republican leaders in San Diego in 2017. It is said that he was brought here as a doctor.

Steele told the Journal at the time that he “did not raise any money or receive any funds” from those who attended the meeting.

Steele loaned the campaign about $1.9 million, according to financial disclosures. Mr. Tran in July explained Her campaign was allegedly “supported by finances related to her husband’s dealings with the Chinese Communist Party.”

“Since May, crybaby Derek Tran has launched a false and vile attack on Michelle Steele’s family and even displayed the Chinese Communist Party flag in his own ads, and now we have seen our campaign become a communist “We are moved to tears by the accurate emphasis on our relationship with China,” Steele spokesman Lance Trover said. .

Tran spokesman Paul Iskajian cited published reports that Tran’s ad “deals with facts,” but said Steele’s ad does not.

Connie Tran Jo, chief executive officer of the nonpartisan nonprofit Asian American Justice Southern California, said the images and text in Steele’s mailings were “provocative of Vietnamese people living in this country.” “It really preys on the historical trauma of immigrants.”

Representatives from 16 Asian American nonprofit organizations, including Cho and Choi, sent a letter to the Orange County Democratic and Republican parties last week, warning that Asian American candidates are not “national security.” He stressed the need to refrain from rhetoric that “falsely suggests that there is a threat to security.” ”

“While it is certainly expected that political candidates address geopolitics, and there is legitimate and serious criticism of the Chinese Communist Party, inaccurate and inflammatory rhetoric leaves Asian Americans untrustworthy and anti-American.” , or create a false narrative that targets them as ‘permanent aliens,’” the letter said.

Steele, who was born to Korean parents and raised in Japan, broke through barriers in 2020 to become one of three Korean-American women elected to the House of Representatives.

Tran was born in the United States to Vietnamese refugee parents. He said his father fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975, but his wife and child were killed when his boat capsized. Tran’s father returned to Vietnam, where he met and married Tran’s mother, and the couple later immigrated to the United States.

Mr. Tran’s campaign event on Monday caused an uproar. recent interviews I spoke with Steele on Vietnamese television station Vietface TV. In it, interviewer Joe Dobbin told Steele, “Some people think you’re not Vietnamese because you don’t have a Vietnamese last name, and they understand everything you have.” Because I haven’t done it yet,” he said. Please do it for them. ”

“I think I’m more Vietnamese than my opponent,” Steele replied.

Anh Do, Times deputy editor for culture and talent, contributed to this report.