The race between Republican Rep. Michelle Steele and Democratic challenger Derek Tran for the Orange County battleground district was too close to call by Tuesday night as vote counting continued.

Mr. Steele, 69, and Mr. Tran, 44, faced off in one of the most competitive U.S. House races in the nation. This is one of several House elections in California that could determine which party controls Congress next year.

Steele was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2020. Two years later, he defeated Democrat Jay Chen in another hard-fought race.

The 2024 race against Mr. Tran was an expensive and tough one as Democrats pushed to win seats centered around Orange County’s Little Saigon community. This neighborhood includes Westminster, Garden Grove, Buena Park, and more.

By sharing his story as the son of Vietnamese refugees, Tran aimed to resonate with Vietnamese-American voters, a key voting bloc in the district. Mr. Steele also sought to shore up his support among Vietnamese Americans, many of whom had been staunch members of the Republican Party for decades.

Tensions reached a fever pitch in recent weeks when Steele’s camp sent out emails portraying Tran as a communist sympathizer. Ms. Tran criticized the mail carrier, calling it a “dirty trick,” but Ms. Steele’s campaign said it was in response to Ms. Tran’s attack ad criticizing her husband, Sean Steele, a former California Republican Party chairman. said.sell access” to the Communist Party of China.

In a sign of the importance of this race in the battle for control of Congress, former President Clinton appeared in Orange County to urge Mr. Tran’s supporters to elect the Army veteran, and his victory It could help Democrats provide “a last guardrail against more overbearing policies,” he said. It is the beginning of a government, or a new majority. ”

Steele benefited from the crypto industry’s massive spending spree, which poured $2.8 million into efforts to support his re-election bid. This was the largest amount ever spent by the industry’s Fair Shake PAC on a U.S. House race.