亚裔移民能否改变加州的政治版图

IRVINE, Calif. — When the Taiwanese bakery opened for business a decade ago, the line for taro bread and sea-salt coffee undulated down the sidewalk, but at least it wasn’t the three-hour wait for Shanghainese hot pot that plugged up the same shopping center this year. Still, that was preferable to the half-day’s perseverance required for entry to the South Coast Plaza branch of Din Tai Fung, the upscale soup-dumpling chain that, for three weeks this winter, threw a crystal-bedecked Lunar New Year party more elaborate than that of most Chinatowns.

加州欧文——这家台湾烘焙坊十年前开业时，来这里买芋头面包和海盐咖啡的人排出的长队沿着人行道蜿蜒不断，但至少他们等待的时间不是今年在同一家购物中心开张的上海火锅店所需的三个小时。不过，三个小时也比在南海岸广场(South Coast Plaza)的鼎泰丰(Din Tai Fung)分店等到一张桌子所需要的半天要好得多。为庆祝农历新年，这家高档汤包连锁店今年冬天连续三周举办豪华派对，所提供的饭菜比大多数唐人街的精美得多。

Chinese and Korean immigrants, and Asian-Americans from other states, have made Irvine nearly half Asian. This has not gone unnoticed by the Irvine Company, the developer that did not so much develop as invent this master-planned city of spotless parks, top schools and cul-de-sacs out of a former sheep ranch in the 1960s, when Orange County was agricultural (think lima beans and orange groves), conservative (think Richard Nixon and the John Birch Society) and white (very, very white).

中国和韩国的移民，以及来自美国其他州的亚裔美国人，已把欧文人口的近一半变成了亚洲人。开发商欧文公司(Irvine Company)注意到了这个变化，与其说该公司开发了欧文，不如说它发明了这个总体规划出来的城市，在这里建起了清洁的公园、顶尖学校，以及封闭的小区。欧文在20世纪60年代是个牧羊场，其所在的奥兰治县那时是个农业县（盛产青豆和橘子），居民以保守派（比如理查德·尼克松、约翰柏奇社[John Birch Society]会员）和白人（特别、特别白）为主。

Known for its devotion to tasteful Mediterranean-ish homes and strip malls that bear approximately the same architectural relationship to Tuscany as the Las Vegas Venetian does to Venice, the company has cultivated a few new trademarks in recent years. Developments advertise second kitchens designed to seal off the aroma of Asian cooking. In-law suites cater to the Asian custom of multigenerational living. Asians smile out of ersatz family photos in the model homes. And Asian immigrant couples have been buying homes up — often for millions, often in cash.

欧文公司以喜欢修建雅致的地中海风格住宅和公路旁的购物饮食街而闻名，这些购物中心在建筑风格上与意大利托斯卡纳的关系，和拉斯维加斯威尼斯人酒店(Las Vegas Venetian)与威尼斯的关系大致相似。近年来，这家公司还建立了几个新标志。公司的广告说其开发的住宅有两间厨房，一间是为了不让亚洲烹饪的气味充满房间而设计的。其住宅还带有老人套间，迎合了亚洲人多代同堂的习俗。样板房里展示着亚洲人满面笑容的家庭照片。亚洲移民夫妇们一直在这里买房子——经常花数百万美元，经常付现金。

“Asians,” said Sukhee Kang, who became the first Korean-American to run a major American city when he was elected mayor of Irvine in 2008, “are good for business.”

“亚洲人给经商带来好处，”2008年当选欧文市长的韩裔美国人的姜石熙(Sukhee Kang)说，他是美国主要城市的首位亚裔市长。

Whether Asians are also good for votes is one of the biggest political questions driving this year’s midterm races in Orange County, where Democrats are counting on immigrants to help the party pull off, if not quite a blue wave, then at least an unmistakable purpling.

亚洲人是否给选票带来好处是驱动今年奥兰治县中期选举的最大政治问题之一，民主党人在指望移民来帮助民主党获胜，即使不能让选区被蓝色浪潮席卷的话，至少也要其明显地变紫。

Orange County is now one-fifth Asian and more than one-third Latino, with a Little Saigon in Garden Grove and Westminster; a Koreatown in nearby Buena Park that is beginning to rival Los Angeles’s; and a thriving Latino community centered in Santa Ana. Forty-five percent of the county’s households speak a language other than English.

奥兰治县现在的人口构成是亚裔占五分之一，西语裔占三分之一以上，园林市(Garden Grove)和西敏市(Westminster)各有一个小西贡(Little Saigon)，附近普安那公园市(Buena Park)的韩国城已开始能够与洛杉矶相抗衡，还有一个以圣安娜(Santa Ana)为中心的繁荣的拉丁美洲社区。该县45%的家庭使用英语以外的其他语言。

In the 45th Congressional District, whose biggest city is Irvine, three of the four Democratic candidates were born to immigrants, including one of the front-runners, Dave Min, a Korean-American law professor at the University of California, Irvine. Whichever Democrat does best in the June 5 primary will challenge Representative Mimi Walters, the Republican incumbent, in a district that has never elected anyone but Republicans — an area once famous for nurturing the political careers of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

在加州的国会第45选区中，欧文是最大的城市，当地的四名民主党候选人中有三名出生在移民家庭，包括可能获胜者之一、加州大学欧文分校(University of California, Irvine)的美籍韩裔法学教授戴夫·敏(Dave Min)。无论哪位民主党人在6月5日的初选中获胜，他都将挑战现任共和党众议员米米·沃尔特斯(Mimi Walters)。以前，这个选区除共和党人外，没有选出过任何其他党派的人，这个地区曾以支持了巴里·戈德华特(Barry Goldwater)和罗纳德·里根(Ronald Reagan)的政治生涯而闻名。

Hence the double-takes when Orange County chose Hillary Clinton in 2016, the first time a Democratic presidential candidate had carried the county since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second term.

因此，2016年奥兰治县把多数票投给了希拉里·克林顿(Hillary Clinton)时，才有了人们愣了一会儿才恍然大悟的反应，那是自富兰克林·D·罗斯福(Franklin D. Roosevelt)的第二个任期以来，一位民主党总统候选人首次赢得该县的支持。

Mrs. Clinton’s edge seems like less of a stretch in the diverse precincts of Irvine, whose demographics increasingly look like the future of Orange County.

在欧文市多元化的子选区里，希拉里的优势看起来并不那么奇怪，欧文的人口结构越来越像是奥兰治县的未来。

But when half the residents of this city of a quarter-million are Asian, it is not clear whether demographics will be destiny for the Democrats, or just, well, a faux-Mediterranean cul-de-sac.

但是，当这座拥有25万人口的城市有一半居民是亚裔时，这种人口结构是否会主宰民主党的未来，而不仅仅像那些封闭小区里仿地中海式房子那样只是表面现象，目前还不清楚。

Turnout is one reason. Asian-Americans tend not to vote in high numbers, put off by language barriers, lack of outreach from either party and a historical absence of political engagement.

有多少人会出来投票是一个原因。亚裔美国人中参加投票的往往不多，这里有语言障碍的问题，共和党和民主党也都没有在亚裔选民中拉票，再就是亚裔在历史上缺乏政治参与。

Though they have gravitated toward the left ever since the 1990s, they are fractured. According to a national survey of Asian-Americans conducted after the 2016 election, Indian- and Korean-Americans tack progressive, Chinese- and Vietnamese-Americans more conservative. While Asians registered as Republicans in Orange County outnumber Asian Democrats, more than one-third of Asian voters identify as independents.

尽管自20世纪90年代以来，亚裔中多数人倾向偏左，但他们不是铁板一块。据一项2016年大选后对亚裔美国人进行的全国性调查，印度裔和韩裔美国人倾向于进步派，华裔和越南裔美国人更为保守。虽然在奥兰治县登记为共和党人的亚裔人数超过了亚裔民主党人，但三分之一以上的亚裔选民自认是独立选民。

Those splits reflect the diversity of an Asian population that is one-third Vietnamese, one-sixth Korean and one-sixth Chinese, with smaller shares of Filipinos, Indians and Japanese. Those who live in Irvine are often highly educated and affluent, especially the businesspeople from mainland China and Korea who often buy up new subdivisions. But there remain pockets of poverty among the county’s Vietnamese, Cambodians and Pacific Islanders.

这些分裂反映出亚裔人口的多样性，他们的三分之一是越南裔，六分之一是韩裔，六分之一是华裔，还有更小比例的菲律宾裔、印度裔和日裔。欧文的居民往往都受过高等教育，生活富裕，尤其是来自中国大陆和韩国的商人，他们常常购买新房。但在该县的越南裔、柬埔寨裔和太平洋岛民中，仍有一些贫困人口。

And though they tend to hold liberal views on issues like gun control, climate change and public spending, the political causes that some Asian-Americans have rallied around in recent years have veered conservative. Organizing on the social media platform WeChat, Chinese immigrants mobilized in 2014 to kill legislation that would have resurrected affirmative action at California universities.

尽管他们在枪支管制、气候变化和公共开支等问题上倾向于持自由派观点，但近年来，一些亚裔美国人支持的政治事业已转向保守。2014年，中国移民利用社交媒体平台微信上组织起来，击败了加州大学恢复平权法案的立法。

Even so, many Asians oppose the Trump administration’s makeover of the immigration system, and their votes evince a broader discomfort with the president. Orange County Asians re-elected their Republican congressional representatives, yet tilted toward Mrs. Clinton in 2016.

尽管如此，许多亚裔还是反对特朗普政府对移民制度的改革，他们的投票表现出对总统的更广泛的不安。2016年，奥兰治县的亚裔让他们的共和党国会议员再次当选，但在总统候选人上倾向于希拉里。

“Because of Republican rhetoric against immigration, Republicans are really turning off Asian-Americans,” said Jennifer Lee, a Columbia sociologist and one of the 2016 survey’s authors. She said both parties needed to work harder for Asian votes. “As they grow as a larger voting bloc, they’re really up for grabs,” she said.

“由于共和党人的反移民言论，共和党人真的正在亚裔美国人中引起反感，”哥伦比亚大学社会学家、前面提到的2016年调查的作者之一珍妮弗·李(Jennifer Lee)说。她说，两党都需要为争取亚裔选票作出更多的努力。“随着他们发展成一个更大的投票群体，他们的选票真的值得争取，”她说。

What could cut through the political crosscurrents this year is a simple maxim: Asians vote for Asians.

今年，也许能够打破这些政治上的不同是一个简单的格言：亚裔给亚裔投票。

The few Asian politicians in Orange County have tended to be Republicans, not least because the party has been the only game in town. A front-runner to replace Ed Royce, a retiring Republican congressman who represents heavily Hispanic and Asian parts of northern Orange County, is a Korean-born Republican former state legislator named Young Kim.

奥兰治县为数不多的亚裔政治人士往往是共和党人，至少是因为共和党一直是这里的唯一选择。代表有众多西语裔和亚裔人口的奥兰治县北部的种议员共和党人埃德·罗伊斯(Ed Royce)即将退休，有望成为其继任的是一位名叫金扬(Young Kim)的年轻人，他出生在韩国，担任过州议会的共和党议员。

But younger Asian-Americans, especially those born in the United States, have tended to swerve left of their elders. They include Mr. Min, a former adviser to Senator Chuck Schumer of New York who calls himself a housing finance wonk. Depending on how several other races turn out, he could become the only Korean-American in Congress, a prospect that finds its way into his pitch when Asian voters are around.

但年轻的亚裔美国人、尤其是那些在美国出生的亚裔美国人，往往会比他们的长辈更偏左。这些人中包括戴夫·敏，他曾担任纽约州参议员查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)的顾问，自称是住房金融专家。他可能成为美国国会中唯一的韩裔美国人，这将取决于几场竞选的结果，这个可能性也是在有亚裔选民在场时他拉选票宣传的一个论点。

Running in Irvine, where Asians, whites and Persians alike buy million-dollar homes in large part to put their children in ultracompetitive public schools, Mr. Min has reasons both for doubt and for hope. “I joke that it’s the one district in the country where being an Asian-American law professor is an advantage,” he said.

欧文的亚裔、白人和波斯人买的房子都价值数百万美元，这在很大程度上是为了把自己的孩子送进竞争激烈的公立学校。在这样的地方竞选，戴夫·敏既有吃不准结果的理由，也有充满希望的理由。“我开玩笑说，这是亚裔美国法学教授有优势的唯一一个美国选区，”他说。

Resistance City, this is not. Lawn signs advertising open houses tend to far outnumber those endorsing politicians. And then there is the question of Asian voters, who, beyond inconsistent turnout, are not numerous enough on their own to pick winners.

不，这里并不是抵抗之城。宣传看房开放日的草坪广告牌比宣传政客的要多得多。然后还有亚洲选民的问题，不仅投票率不一致，数量也不足以选出自己的获胜者。

Still, Asians are the fastest-growing immigrant group in the country; in 2015, researchers at the University of California, Davis, projected that the number of eligible Asian-American voters in California would rise 37 percent by 2040.

尽管如此，亚裔仍是美国增长最快的移民群体。2015年，加州大学戴维斯分校(University of California, Davis)的研究人员曾预测，到了2040年，加州有资格投票的亚裔美国人人数将上升37%。

“The more you can engage them in the place they’re comfortable, in the language they’re comfortable in — it’s a sign that we value their vote,” said Katie Porter, a U.C. Irvine law professor who is considered Mr. Min’s main rival.

“你越能在他们感到舒适、语言自然的地方融入他们，是我们重视他们投票的标志，”被视为戴夫·敏主要对手的加州大学欧文分校的法学教授凯蒂·波特(Katie Porter)说。

She said her campaign, which highlights her consumer protection work with Senator Elizabeth Warren, was energizing previously apathetic voters: “I think that this is a place where historically, politics wasn’t discussed, but this most recent election, I think, changed that.”

她表示，她的竞选活动突出了她与参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦(Elizabeth Warren)所开展的消费者保护工作，使此前表现冷漠的选民活跃了起来：“我认为在这个地方人们本不会讨论历史、讨论政治，但我想，最近的选举已经改变了这点。”

Mr. Min speaks only minimal Korean, making it difficult for him to tap into the community on his own. So his parents, who arrived in the United States as graduate students in 1972, have campaigned for him at Korean churches and restaurants, and Mr. Kang has prodded local Korean-language media to cover him more.

戴夫·敏只会说一点韩语，这让他很难融入他自己的群体。因此，他1972年以研究生身份来到美国的父母替他在韩国教堂和餐馆进行了宣传，姜石熙也鼓励当地的韩语媒体对他多加报道。

On a recent evening in Turtle Rock, a neighborhood near U.C. Irvine, virtually every white voter whose door Mr. Min knocked on was familiar with his campaign, including an ex-Republican who pledged his vote.

前不久的一个晚上，在加州大学欧文分校附近的龟岩山社区，几乎每一个被戴夫·敏敲过门的白人选民都很熟悉他的竞选活动，其中还包括一位承诺会给他投票的前共和党人。

Some of the Asian voters on his list proved harder to engage.

更难参与进来的是名单上的一些亚裔选民。

A woman named Celeste grimaced when Mr. Min told her that Ms. Walters, the Republican incumbent, was “100 percent with Trump.”

一位名叫赛莱斯特(Celeste)的女子在戴夫·敏告诉她现任共和党众议员沃尔特斯“百分百支持特朗普”的时候，做了个鬼脸。

“This feels like an attack on the values that brought my parents to this country and that I grew up with,” Mr. Min added.

“这感觉就像是对引领我父母来到美国、我从小接受的价值观的一种冲击，”戴夫·敏补充道。

The woman listened, but did not ask questions or linger.

这名女子听他说，但没有提问或在这个问题上纠缠。

Nowhere is Orange County’s accelerating diversity more obvious than in its schools and shopping centers, where, in the absence of downtowns, community life unfolds.

奥兰治县多样化进程加快的表现在学校和购物中心最为明显，在市中心之外，展现出了一片社群生活。

Zion Markets (Korean) and 99 Ranches (Taiwanese) jostle with, or even replace, Vons and Albertsons supermarkets. There are so many Chinese students in Irvine now that the city supports several competing Chinese-language schools, and the public schools have been known to send notices to parents in English and Chinese.

锡安超市（Zion Markets，韩国）和大华超级市场（99 Ranches，台湾）抢占着Vons和艾博森(Albertsons)超市的地盘，甚至取而代之。欧文现在的中国学生是如此之多，该市为几所相互竞争的中文学校提供资金。而且，众所周知的是，公立学校向家长发通知时已经会中英文并用。

In 2016, when Ryan Garlitos was preparing to open Irenia, his critically acclaimed Filipino restaurant in Santa Ana, “there was a question of, ‘Is Orange County ready for this place?’” said Mr. Garlitos.

2016年，当瑞安·加利托(Ryan Garlitos)准备在圣塔安娜开办他备受好评的菲律宾餐馆Irenia时，“一个问题就是，‘奥兰治县准备好接受这家餐厅了吗？’”加利托说道。

Apparently it is. Why? “Kids like us grew up,” said Sarah Mosqueda, his partner, who is from a Mexican family in Tustin. “That’s what changed.”

当然准备好了。为什么？“像我们这样的孩子长大了，”他的搭档萨拉·莫斯克达(Sarah Mosqueda)说，萨拉来自塔斯汀的一个墨西哥家庭。“这一点改变了。”

Mr. Garlitos and Ms. Mosqueda met working at Taco María, an ambitious Mexican restaurant in nearby Costa Mesa chosen by The Los Angeles Times as its 2018 restaurant of the year.

加利托和莫斯克达是在玛利亚墨西哥卷饼餐馆(Taco María)工作时认识的。这是科斯塔梅萨附近的一家颇有抱负的墨西哥餐厅，被《洛杉矶时报》评为了2018年度餐厅。

But the chef, Carlos Salgado, the son of Mexican immigrants, said he had no illusions about how far immigrants still had to go in Orange County. “I have a tall white guy in my kitchen; people think he’s the chef,” Mr. Salgado said.

但身为移民之子的主厨卡洛斯·萨尔加多(Carlos Salgado)表示，他对奥兰治县的移民还要走多远没有过幻想。“我厨房里有个高大的白人，人们都认为他是主厨，”萨尔加多说。

Local headlines this year have been a reminder that the county is still conservative turf mottled with liberal patches, not the other way around. A dozen Republican-dominated cities recently passed resolutions opposing the state’s new so-called sanctuary state law, which extends more protections to unauthorized immigrants.

今年的本地新闻还在提醒人们，该县仍然是保守派的地盘，只有斑驳几小块自由派区域，而不是相反。最近，十几个共和党主导的城市通过了反对加州所谓的庇护州法决议，该法本来为非法移民提供了更多保护。

Most of them were predominantly white communities.

这些城市大都由白人社区占据主导。

“To me, it’s the last gasp of a ruling group of Republicans who are on their way out the door,” said Kia Hamadanchy, a son of Persian immigrants who is running for Congress as a Democrat in Irvine.

“对我来说，这是共和党执政团队的最后一次喘息，他们快被扫地出门了，”波斯移民的儿子奇亚·哈马丹奇(Kia Hamadanchy)说，他正代表民主党在欧文竞选国会议员。

Whether immigrants will replace them remains to be seen.

移民是否会取而代之仍需拭目以待。

“It’s hard to get Asian-Americans to run,” said Cyril Yu, a deputy district attorney who lost his race for the Irvine school board in 2012. “But I think you’re going to get people who are excited, nonetheless, because an Asian-American’s on the ballot.”

“很难让亚裔美国人参加竞选，”地方副检察官西里尔·于(Cyril Yu)说，他在2012年曾在欧文学校董事会的竞选中失利。“但我认为不论如何你会得到一些感到兴奋的人，毕竟选票上有一位亚裔美国人。”