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Stumping for California's API Candidates

Carol Liu, candidate for the California State Assembly, poses with Washington State Governor Gary Locke, who seeks reelection this November. Photos on this page by Fiona Ma.

By Fiona Ma

Asian American CEOs from Silicon Valley once again banned together to flex their political muscle. This time, six prominent business leaders—T.C. Wu, Ta-Lin Hsu, David Tsang, George Huang, Joe Wu and Hsing Kung—put aside partisan politics and gathered 300 of their friends and family to help Gov. Gary Locke of Washington on his re-election efforts.

Gov. Locke, a Democrat, reminisced about his last visit to the Silicon Valley four years ago. He impressed the crowd with his lengthy public service record: 11 years as a member of the state’s House of Representatives, three years as King County’s executive, and now, the first Chinese American elected governor in a state with a population that is less than 5 percent Asian American. Under his leadership, Locke was proud to see Washington proclaimed the “No. 1 Digital State” for two years in a row, and ranked one of the four best managed states in America.”

Quite an accomplishment for Locke, whose grandfather arrived in Washington State at the turn of the 19th Century. “It took 100 years for the family to move one mile,” he said jokingly.

Locke urged the crowd to “get involved” and sent a reminder: “We’ve made great progress in this country with more [Asian Americans] running for office and being top business leaders. We’ve accomplished so much. However, we can’t take these gains for granted because for every two steps forwards, we take one step back. .... We cannot be complacent and we must get involved in the political process.”

The CEOs were also stumping for eight other Asian Americans who won their primary elections in March. Amongst those appearing were:

Mike Honda

Mike Honda
Candidate for U.S. Congress 15th District .

Honda, enjoying his second term in the California State Assembly, is running a tough race in District 15 against Republican challenger Assemblyman Jim Cuneen.

Born in California, Honda has come a long way from his teaching days in San Jose, Calif. Appointed in 1971 to the San Jose City Planning Commission by then-mayor Norm Mineta, Honda became the first and only Asian American to serve on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 1990 and was first elected to the California State Assembly in 1996 and overwhelmingly re-elected in 1998. “There’s still a lot of work to do and your elected officials are your voice … If there’s a wrong that’s been done, I’ll be your voice,” Honda vowed.

Paul Zee

Paul Zee
Candidate for the 21st California State Senate.

Zee—a business owner, former city councilman for eight years and twice former mayor of South Pasadena, Calif.,—is running as a first-generation American. Having a knowledge of the hardships that new immigrants have to face, he said, it’s okay to be “humble, but we need to be heard,” he said. Zee added that Asian American candidates should be supported based on their qualifications rather than their political party affiliations.”

Gloria Hom

Gloria Hom
Candidate for California State Senate in the 110th District.

Hom, a fourth-generation Californian, is chair and professor of the Economics Department at Mission College. She was named “Outstanding Educator of America” and Trustee Emeritus for the California State University System. Hom compared running for politics like starting a business and added, “Strides in politics have been stifled and not stellar.”

Carol Liu

Carol Liu
Candidate for the 44th California State Assembly District.

Liu beat out her opponents in the primary by a wide margin—capturing 28 percent of the votes—making her a “sure bet” in the November election. As a teacher and P.T.A. president, education is one of her major focus issues. “Public education is a huge issue in California and is at a crossroads,” she said. “I want to be there to make sure all our kids get what they deserve.” Liu was the first Asian American to be elected mayor of La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.

Grace Hu

Grace Hu
Candidate for the 56th California State Assembly District.

Hu, a first-generation American from Taiwan, came to the United States as a student. Hu was ranked a “Top 100 Business Women in Southern California” in 1998 and 1998, and was twice elected to the Cerritos City Council and is currently the mayor of Cerritos, Calif. Her focus is on fewer taxes and regulations for businesses.

Wilma Chan

Wilma Chan
Candidate for the 16th California State Assembly District.

Chan recalled seeing very few Asian Americans running for office 10 years ago while serving on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and the School Board, but today that landscape has changed. Chan believes that this is the “decade of Asian Americans—that Asian Americans will take center stage, not only on Asian American issues but on many issues.”

Kansen Chu

Kansen Chu
Candidate for San Jose City Council.

Chu, an electronic engineer and entrepreneur, prides himself on being the only Asian American to emerge from the pack of 23 candidates in the primary and the first Asian American in a runoff in 150 years. Chu pledged to work hard to make “San Jose the model city in the world.” San Jose, Calif., is currently the third largest city in the state and the 11th largest in the United States.

Steve Cho

Steve Cho
Candidate for Fremont City Council.

A late comer to the political scene, Cho, a small high-tech business owner and 26 year resident of Fremont, Calif., is running for City Council due to “a sincere desire to make Fremont a better place to live.” Fremont is the fourth largest city in the Bay Area with Chinese Americans making up approximately 20 percent of the population. If elected, Cho would be the first Asian American to serve on the City Council.