Yet another candidate has jumped into the race to represent California’s 45th congressional district, making him the third Democratic candidate to try a hand at flipping the seat in 2024.
Brea resident Aditya Pai said his campaign is meant “to inspire public service.” A construction attorney and Harvard Law School alumnus, Pai says he has dedicated more than 2,000 hours to civil legal aid work for low-income tenants and workers.
His campaign, he says, is a “continuation of that public service.”
“I’m running to serve the communities that invested in me and made the person that I am today,” Pai said.
The 31-year-old came to Orange County from Bombay, India, when he was 8 and credits his teachers, neighbors and other community members for opening doors for him.
Pai is a 2008 alumnus of Boys State, a civic leadership program for high school juniors, where he said he first became interested in government. He has worked on local and national Democratic races, including Sukhee Kang’s Irvine mayoral campaign in 2008 and Steve Bullock’s Montana gubernatorial campaign in 2012.
“I’ve never had the luxury of only talking to people that agree with me politically from a young age,” Pai said. “I’ve had to reach out to Republicans, independents, people of different backgrounds.”
As of now, Pai will be up against Seal Beach Republican Michelle Steel — who currently represents the district encompassing north Orange County communities and parts of Los Angeles County — and two Democrats in 2024: 25-year-old UC Irvine Law grad Cheyenne Hunt and Garden Grove Councilmember Kim Bernice Nguyen, who has already amassed plenty of local support.
The district was recently placed on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s target list of competitive Republican-held or open districts that the party’s campaign arm is expected to invest heavily in.
Democrats have a near 6% voter registration advantage over Republicans in CA-45,
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