Dean Tran
Dean A. Tran is an American politician from Fitchburg, Massachusetts, who was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 2017 in a special election. He represented the Worcester and Middlesex District, and is a Republican. Before his election to the Massachusetts Senate, Tran was a member of the Fitchburg City Council. Early life. Tran was born in Saigon, since renamed Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam into a successful business family. He emigrated with his family to the United States at the age of 4. After fleeing Vietnam by boat, Tran’s family spent two years in a refugee camp  in while waiting for their application for green cards to be approved. In 1980, he and his family were sponsored by a Catholic priest in Clinton, Massachusetts where he called his first real home. In 1986, his family relocated to Fitchburg, Massachusetts where he graduated from Fitchburg High School. Tran continued his education, earning a bachelor's degree from Brandeis University in 1997. Political career. In 2005, Tran became the first person of color elected to the Fitchburg City Council. On December 5, 2017, after 12 years as city councilor, Tran won a special election to replace outgoing state senator  Jennifer Flanagan for State Senate representing the Worcester and Middlesex district, by less than 700 votes. He ran as an advocate for fiscal discipline and low taxes. Tran is the first Vietnamese American to hold an elected office in Massachusetts. On December 20, 2017, Tran was officially sworn in to the State Senate. His senatorial district comprises Berlin, Bolton, Precincts 1 & 2 of Clinton, Fitchburg, Gardner, Lancaster, Leominster, Lunenburg, Sterling, Townsend and Westminster in north central Massachusetts. Tran was re-elected in the general election in November 2018, but he lost re-election in the 2020 general election to Democrat  John Cronin, also by less than 700 votes. On February 2, 2022 Tran officially kicked off his campaign to challenge Lori Trahan in the 2022 Midterm election for the 3rd congressional district. Scandal. Tran was stripped of his leadership post, as assistant minority whip, in March 2020 after the Senate Ethics Committee ruled he violated ethics and campaign rules by having staffers work on his 2018 re-election campaign while on state time. He subsequently lost re-election in November of the same year. As of January 2022, neither the Office of Campaign and Political Finance nor the Ethics Commission  have taken any public action on these accusations. Tran stated he never had due process to give his side of the story, see the report, or know who the witnesses were. Personal life. Tran is married to his wife Kerry. They have four children: Isabelle, Olivia, Madilyn, and Dean. In his spare time, Tran likes to spend time with his family and is a volunteer coach for youth soccer, basketball, and baseball. Before being elected to the state senate, he served on the Executive Board for the Boy Scouts of America Nashua Valley Council, the Corporator Board for the Central  Massachusetts YMCA, and the Board of Trustees for Mount Wachusett Community College. Tran continues to help families in need as Tran and staff were able to raise monetary donations to purchase food and Christmas gifts for the Perez children as well as give hundreds of dollars to the family to use for expenses. Tran's daughter, Olivia, ran for the vacant Fitchburg City Council Ward 6 seat in November 2021. She earned 46% of the vote, but lost the election.