This year’s election was highly anticipated, not only because we voted for presidential candidates, but also because there was a record number of Korean American candidates on the down-ticket positions. As of December 14th, 13 Korean Americans have been elected.
1. Senator Donna Mercado Kim (D, Hawaii SD-14)
Former president of the Hawaii State Senate, Senator Kim was re-elected to her 6th term in the Hawaii State Senate this year. She has served in the Hawai‘i State Senate since 2000.
Senator Kim served on the Honolulu City Council from 1984 to 2000 and represented Moanalua, Aiea, and Kalihi communities as a State Representative from 1982 to 1984. She has served in every level of state and local government – from Honolulu City Council, Hawai‘i State House of Representatives, and currently on Hawai‘i’s State Senate.
Senator Kim served as the Chair of the Committee on Higher Education and Vice Chair of Education. Her focus has been on the re-development of Kalihi, improving the infrastructure of roads and schools, managing tourism, protecting the environment, and job creation.
She is a graduate of Farrington High School, attended the University of Hawaii, and received a B.A. from Washington State University.
2. Rep. Sylvia Luke (D, Hawaii HD-25)
Born in Seoul, Korea, Rep. Luke was re-elected to her 11th term in the Hawaii House of Representatives this year. She was first elected to the Legislature in 1998.
She served as the Chair of the House Finance Committee, Vice Speaker of the House; Chair of the House Committee on Judiciary; and Vice Chair of the House Committee on Economic Development and Business Concerns.
She received a B.A. from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and received her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law. In addition to serving as a legislator, Representative Luke is an attorney in private practice.
3. Rep. Sharon Har (D, Hawaii HD-42)
Rep. Har was re-elected to her 8th term in the Hawaii House of Representatives this year. She was first elected to the Legislature in 2006.
She is an attorney with the law firm of Bays Lung Rose & Holma in Honolulu, where she specializes in real estate, land use, and construction litigation. Prior to working at Bays Lung, Representative Har served as an aide and advisor to Lt. Governor Mazie Hirono from 1999-2002 where she assisted the Lt. Governor on the issues of education, transportation, and high technology. Representative Har has also committed numerous years of service to various community organizations, including the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii, Aloha United Way, the Hawaii Blood Bank, and the Hawaii Korean Chamber of Commerce.
Representative Har has been a resident of the Kapolei area since 1997. She received her Juris Doctor from the John Marshall Law School and spent a semester as a visiting student at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai`i. She earned B.A.’s in political science and sociology from Mount Holyoke College.
4. Rep. Cindy Ryu (D, Washington HD-32)
Rep. Ryu was re-elected to her 6th term in the Washington House of Representatives. While a Shoreline City Councilmember, she served as Mayor, becoming the first Korean American woman mayor in America. In Shoreline, she served as president of both the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce and its Dollars for Scholars Chapter, helped improve numerous public parks, build its first City Hall, and create Shoreline’s Green Business Program. Rep. Ryu is a 49- year resident of Washington State and lived previously in South Korea, Brunei, and the Philippines. She received a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and an MBA in operations management from the University of Washington, Seattle.
Over the years, Rep. Ryu has spoken at the KAGC events on multiple occasions, including the main stage at the 2018 and 2019 KAGC National Conferences.
5. Asm. Ron Kim (D, New York AD-40)
A son of Korean immigrants and a longtime resident of Flushing, Queens, Assemblymember Kim was re-elected to his 5th term in the New York State Assembly this year. He is the first and only Korean-American ever elected to the New York State Legislature.
Assemblyman Kim began his career in public service in then-Councilmember John C. Liu’s office, focusing on quality-of-life issues in his beloved downtown Flushing community. He then moved on to become an aide to then-State Assemblyman Mark Weprin. After working in Assemblyman Weprin’s office, Assemblyman Kim joined the New York City Department of Buildings, followed by the Department of Small Business Services. In 2004, he was accepted into the National Urban Fellows Program, advising the Chief Education Office of the Chicago Public Schools while simultaneously earning his Masters in Public Administration from Baruch College.
Since his election in 2012, Assemblyman Kim has stood firm in his message of striving to provide quality education for all students, securing funding for local schools, and supporting small businesses in the Flushing community.
6. Rep. Patty Kim (D, Pennsylvania HD-103)
A daughter of Korean immigrants, a former news anchor, reporter and Harrisburg City Councilwoman, State Representative Patty Kim was re-elected to her 5th term this year. She was first elected to the state House of Representatives in 2012. She is the first Asian-American to serve in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
Rep. Kim served on the Appropriations, Education, Local Government, and Transportation committees. She also serves as the Democratic South East Delegation Vice-Chair of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, the Treasurer of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, and the Treasurer of the Capitol Preservation Committee. During her second term, she also served as Treasurer for the Legislative Black Caucus.
Prior to her work in the legislature, Rep. Kim was elected to Harrisburg’s City Council where she served two terms. Her colleagues elected her as council Vice President during her second term.
7. Asm. Steven Choi (R, California AD-68)
An immigrant from Korea himself, Dr. Choi has served two terms as Mayor of Irvine, CA, before he was elected as California State Assemblyman of the 68th Assembly District in 2016. He was re-elected to his third term this year.
Prior to that, in 1998, he became the first Asian-American elected to the Irvine Unified School Board and served two consecutive terms there before becoming the first Asian American to have been elected to a four-year term on the Irvine City Council and one of two Korean Americans on the council.
In the Assembly, Dr. Choi has led efforts to improve the quality of Orange County Schools, protect Proposition 13 and keep taxes down, tackle the homeless problem, and reduce the cost of health care.
Assemblyman Choi has spoken at the 2019 KAGC National Conference.
8. Rep. Sam Park (D, Georgia HD-101)
A son of Korean immigrants and grandson of Korean War refugees, Representative Sam Park was born and raised in Georgia. He is the first Korean American Democrat to be elected to the chamber, as well as the first openly LGBTQ man to ever be elected to any state legislature in the South. He was re-elected to his third term this year.
As a state legislator himself, Rep. Park’s primary focus is on Medicaid expansion to help suffering families get access to healthcare, as he recently lost a family member to cancer. He has authored a number of bills to that effect, including House Bill 669 (2018), which sought to authorize appropriations to expand Medicaid in Georgia. Other legislative achievements of Rep. Park include measures to ensure the civil rights of citizens without English proficiency and to grant Korean-American veterans of the Vietnam War a veteran-status recognized by the State of Georgia, which was signed into law in March 2020.
Over the years, Rep. Park has spoken at the KAGC events on multiple occasions, including a KAGC U event at Emory in 2018, 2019 KAGC Alabama Regional Seminar, on the main stage at the 2018 and 2019 KAGC National Conferences, as well as a number of college student events.
9. Rep. Maria Robinson (D, Massachusetts 6th Middlesex)
An adoptee from South Korea who was raised in Northeastern Pennsylvania, Representative Maria Duaime Robinson was the first Korean-American elected to the Massachusetts State Legislature. She was re-elected to her second term this year.
In the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Rep. Robinson authored and sponsored numerous bills pertaining to energy and sustainability, such as H.392, which would expand the Department of Energy Resources studies on electric vehicles. She has also advocated for her diverse constituency, such as through H.3117, which petitioned for legislation to authorize international students with F-1 visas who have obtained a driver’s permit to drive.
10. Rep. Daniel Pae (R, Oklahoma HD-62)
A son of Korean immigrants and a Lawton native, Representative Pae was elected in 2018 as Oklahoma’s first Asian-American to serve in the Oklahoma House and youngest state legislator at age 24. He was re-elected to his second term this year.
During his first term, he served as the Vice-Chair of Government Efficiency, and on the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, the County and Municipal Government Committee, and the Appropriations and Budget Human Services subcommittee.
11. Dave K. Min (D, California SD-37)
A first-generation Korean-American who grew up in California, Prof. Dave Min is a nationally-recognized expert on economic policy who has fought to protect and strengthen economic opportunity for working Americans for nearly two decades. He was elected to the California State Senate this year.
Prof. Min worked as an enforcement attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission, as an economic and financial policy advisor to Senator Chuck Schumer, and as an economic policy director at the Center for American Progress. He also teaches at the UC Irvine School of Law.
Some of Prof. Min’s policy ideas include building on the foundational ideal of American innovation, as well as improving economic equity, environmental progress, and public education. Prof. Min’s campaign focuses on fighting for quality health care, championing quality education, and combating climate change.
12. Jacey Jetton (R, Texas HD-26)
Mr. Jetton was elected as the first Korean-American State Representative in Texas this year. His father was an artilleryman, stationed in South Korea, and her mother was born and grew up in South Korea. They met in Korea, got married and moved to Texas after his father finished serving in the Army. A 7th generation Texan, Mr. Jetton followed his father’s footsteps as an artilleryman, stationed in South Korea, in the U.S. Army. He enlisted in the Army National Guard and was attached to a mechanized infantry unit in the 36th infantry division.
Mr. Jetton has previously served as the legislative director for conservative Republican state Rep. Drew Springer during the 83rd legislative session, has served on the campaign trail for Texas House District 144, Rep. David Pineda in east Harris County, and worked for Glenn Hegar, during his successful campaign for Texas Comptroller.
In 2017, he served as the Chairman of the Fort Bend Republican Party. He streamlined the party, strengthened financials, and re-organized the party to talk to all new conservatives moving to Fort Bend. By the end of 2018, the Fort Bend Republican Party paid off its debts and raised more money than ever before.
13. Francesca Hong (D, Wisconsin AD-76)
A daughter of Korean immigrants and Wisconsin native, Ms. Hong was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly this year as the first Asian American to ever serve in the chamber.
Prior to running for elected office, Ms. Hong has led a successful career in the service industry, becoming a full-time, professional chef in 2009. She eventually became one of the youngest and first female executive chefs at the 43 North Restaurant on King Street. Ms. Hong also co-founded the Culinary Ladies Collective (CLC) in 2016 and served as the president of its Board of Directors.