With the 2020 census reporting a marginally smaller California population, the state has subsequently lost a district. This shift from California’s formerly 53 districts to a mere 52 has caused major redistricting all across the state. In fact, the cities of Artesia and Cerritos, formerly part of representative Linda Sanchez’s predominantly Latino 38th district, have felt the rippling effects of this change firsthand.

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Now a part of the newly redrawn 45th district, which contains the predominantly Asian cities of Artesia, Cerritos, Buena Park, Garden Grove, Westminster, and La Palma in addition to portions of Huntington Beach, Hawaiian Gardens, Anaheim, and Los Alamitos, citizens of the two sister cities have been thrust into the fierce battle between its two main candidates for the house seat; Republican incumbent Michelle Steel and Democrat Jay Chen. Congresswoman Steel, representative for district 48 prior to 2020 census redistricting, has become something of a trailblazer in recent years. Not only is she one of the nation’s first Korean American women in congress, but she has done groundbreaking work for her district, which is predominantly composed of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a group that far too often goes underrepresented.

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As midterm elections draw near, however, Steel has come under fire for her use of her influence over her local community to spread propaganda and misinformation about her opponent, Jay Chen. Throughout the race, “China’s Choice” and “Communist” have become synonymous with Chen’s name to many of her voters, all thanks to her ads, which have spared no expense in portraying Chen as nothing short of a figure similar to tyrants such as Mao Ze Dong. Although buzzwords like "communist" may be frightening to the district's largely Vietnamese population, many of whom came to America fearing the communist threat, this could not be further from the truth.

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