Michelle Steel Leading Jay Chen in Battle for House Seat

Michelle Steel and Jay Chen. (Left Photo: Courtesy of Michelle Steel) Right Photo: Courtesy of Mt. San Antonio College Board

Incumbent Republican Michelle Steel holds the lead over her Democrat opponent Jay Chen in the race for California’s 45th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to preliminary midterm election results.

Steel is currently leading with 53.5 percent of the vote over Chen’s 46.5 percent, in the recently redrawn district that straddles the counties of Orange and Los Angeles, according to unofficial results from the California Secretary of State as of 5 p.m. on Nov. 14.

Previously Steel was an Orange County Supervisor and has served on the California State Board of Equalization. She defeated former U.S. Rep Harley Rouda in the 48th district in 2020.

Steel, an immigrant from Seoul, South Korea, has been an advocate for taxpayers, and an outspoken critic of Democratic Party policies that she claims have led to record inflation, a broken supply chain, and high crime in California and across the nation. She voted against impeaching former President Donald Trump and opposed the formation of the Jan. 6 commission. Steel has also opposed legislation promoting abortion, transgender policies, and same-sex marriage.

Chen, a real estate business owner and Navy reserve officer, campaigned on codifying abortion rights into federal law, fighting inflation, and reducing high prescription drug costs.

He currently serves on the board of trustees for the Mt. San Antonio College and served on the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District Board of Education for eight years. He owned a real estate business and has worked as a management consultant.

As of Oct. 19, Steel raised about $6.8 million for her campaign compared to Chen’s approximate $4.6 million, according to the most current data available from the Federal Election Commission.

The District 45 race has been a contentious one.

In early February, Steel criticized Chen for voting in 2010 to bring the Chinese-funded Confucius Institute into the school system while he was on the school board. The institute, billed as a program to teach students about Chinese culture, language, and history, has since been exposed as a front for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to spread political propaganda.

In 2020, the U.S. State Department described the institute “as a foreign mission of the PRC [People’s Republic of China], recognizing [the Confucius Institute] for what it is: an entity advancing Beijing’s global propaganda and malign influence campaign on U.S. campuses and K-12 classrooms. Confucius Institutes are funded by the PRC and part of the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence and propaganda apparatus.”

Chen responded in an email fundraiser that Steel’s concerns about the institute were part of “a wave of racist attacks” contributing to anti-Asian hate.

Steel’s campaign has denied the allegations.

“As Michelle Steel [recently] passed an amendment to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for environmental abuses, Jay Chen continues championing the CCP’s infiltration into our schools and calling parents who dare to challenge him, xenophobic,” Steel’s spokesperson Lance Trover said in a Feb. 8 statement.

More controversy surfaced in early April when The Epoch Times reported Chen was taped mocking Steel’s accent, and telling a crowd of his supporters that “you kind of need an interpreter to figure out exactly what [Steel is] saying.”

The California Secretary of State has until Dec. 16 to certify the election results.