Meet Van

Garden Grove Councilman Van Tran was first elected to the city council in November 2000, gaining more votes for city council than any other candidate in Garden Grove history.

Only the second American of Vietnamese descent to be elected to public office in the United States, Van Tran quickly earned a reputation as a prudent fiscal conservative. Van also gained the confidence and respect of his fellow council members who have now twice elected him to serve as Mayor Pro-Tem. That’s one of the reasons why the The Orange County Register recognized him in 2001 as, “a person to watch.”

In addition to his role on the city council, Van Tran serves as Chairman of the Garden Grove Housing Authority and as a member of the Committee on Community, Economic and Housing Development of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG).

Prior to his city council election, Van Tran served as a Garden Grove Planning Commissioner and a member of the Board of Directors of the Regional Center of Orange County. Van was also a frequent contributor to the Orange County Register’s editorial page and the English Section of the Nguoi Viet Daily, the largest Vietnamese-language newspaper in the nation.

Van Tran is the managing partner of Van Thai Tran & Associates law firm. Prior to founding his law firm, Van served as a staff aide to Congressman Robert K. Dornan and then-State Senator (now Congressman) Ed Royce. He was the first Vietnamese American to serve on the personal staff of a Member of Congress.

Van Tran is a voting delegate to the California Republican Party and Chairman of the Vietnamese Committee of the Orange County Republican Party. He is also a member of Congressman Ed Royce’s Asian-Pacific Congressional Advisory Board, and he serves as Vice Chairman of the Orange County based “El Capitan” District of the Boy Scouts of America.

In the 1990's, Van founded the Vietnamese-American Voters Coalition (VAVOCO), a non-profit organization that promotes voter education and awareness.

At the age of 10, Van Tran emigrated with his family to the United States from Saigon, Vietnam. He completed his Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine, and then went on to earn both a Master's Degree in Public Administration and a Juris Doctorate from Hamline University School of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota.