Bao Nguyen, the left-wing mayor of Garden Grove, will stage an official announcement event tomorrow to launch his candidacy for the 46th Congressional District, which has opened up due to the incumbent, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, running for U.S. Senate.

Nguyen actually filed to run for Congress in mid-August – around the same time it surfaced that he had called a Garden Grove police officer over to his condo in the middle of the night to shoot the breeze for an hour about various topics – including a potential congressional run. Nguyen told the officer in question — who also happens to be the president of the Garden Grove police union — “I’m going national, man.”

Last November, Nguyen rode the Vietnamese voter tidal wave generated by the Janet Nguyen for Senate campaign to a squeaker victory (15 votes) over Mayor Bruce Broadwater. Since then, he has enjoyed fawning media coverage.

CD46 consists of the Santa Ana, the Anaheim flatlands, Orange and parts of Garden Grove.

CD46

 

Although Santa Ana is the most populous city in CD46, Anaheim has the most voters. Here’s the city-by-city breakdown in terms of number of voters:

Anaheim:            93,656

Santa Ana:          81,775

Orange:               31,648

Garden Grove:  16,431

Unincorp.            3,924

In terms of party registration, the 46th Congressional District is 46.8% Democrat, 27.5% Republican and 21.7% No Party Preference.

The other candidates are former state Senator Lou Correa; Anaheim Councilman Jordan Brandman, former state Senator Joe Dunn; and someone named Herberto Sanchez. All of whom are Democrats. The only Republican in the race is Irvine Councilwoman Lynn Schott.