8 Asians

In today’s San Francisco Examiner, the newspaper reports that San Mateo, California resident Yul Kown may run for Congressman Tom Lantos’ open this fall in “‘Survivor alum’ considers run for Lantos’ seat“:

“The 32-year-old registered Democrat said Tuesday that he is not ready to make a public statement, but he has told friends, colleagues and several elected officials he is strongly considering running. If Kwon decides to announce his candidacy, he will be facing former state Sen. Jackie Speier to represent California’s 12th Congressional District, which includes most of San Mateo and part of San Francisco counties. Longtime incumbent Tom Lantos announced earlier this month he would not seek re-election due to cancer of the esophagus. Kwon has never held office but is not without political experience. After graduating from Yale Law School and serving as a law clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York, Kwon served as a legislative aide to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., drafting sections of the Homeland Security Bill and working on technology-related legislation.”

The article goes on to quote those who he has worked for or with, including Senator Lieberman, Congressman Mike Honda, and his former managers at his old law firm and McKinsey.

As I previously wrote, former State Senator Jackie Speier has incredible name recognition and backing by elected and registered Democrats in the San Francisco Bay Area, so a run by Kwon will be quite a challenge. But with so few Asian-Americans involved in politics in America, let alone in California (of all places!), I hope Kwon considers running despite the formidable odds. Kwon could be the new face of politics for Asian-Americans, and down the road, our next Barack Obama – helping to break down racial barriers (of course, Obama did start off in the Illinois state legislature before going to Washington, D.C.)…