First-time Candidate Dave Min in Close Race,
U.S. Republican Representative Young Kim seeking a third term. Photo from Korea Times,
In the U.S. House of Representatives elections held alongside the November 5 presidential election, three Korean-American representatives are likely to win. The main figures are Young Kim (62), Michelle Park Steel (69), and Marilyn Strickland (62), all running for a third term. However, first-time Democratic candidate Dave Min (48) is in a tight race with his Republican opponent.
According to the Associated Press and others on the 6th (local time), Young Kim, the Republican congresswoman running for a third term in California’s 40th district, is leading by a large margin against Democratic competitor Joe Kerr.
Representative Kim was born in Incheon in 1962 and immigrated to the United States with her family in 1975. She majored in business administration at the University of Southern California before entering politics as an aide to Ed Royce, a 13-term Republican and former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She narrowly lost to Democrat Gil Cisneros in the 2018 congressional election but won a rematch in 2020. She is also a working mom with four children.
U.S. Republican Representative Michelle Park Steel. Photo from Korea Times,
Michelle Park Steel is also close to securing her third term in California’s 45th district against Democrat Derek Tran.
Born in Seoul in 1955, Representative Steel spent her childhood in Japan and the United States. She graduated from Pepperdine University and earned an MBA from the University of Southern California. With support from her husband, Shawn Steel, a former member of the Republican National Committee and a lawyer, she entered politics and was first elected as a congresswoman in 2020.
Marilyn Strickland (left), U.S. Democratic Representative, and her mother. Photo from Korea Times,
In Washington state, Marilyn Strickland, the first Korean-American and African-American female representative, is leading significantly against Republican Don Hewitt in the 10th district, making her third-term victory likely.
Known by her Korean name “Soon-ja,” Representative Strickland was born in Seoul in 1962 to a U.S. military father and a Korean mother. Her family moved to Virginia’s Fort Lee when she was one year old. She studied business at Washington University and earned an MBA from Clark Atlanta University. She worked in life insurance and at Starbucks before entering politics. Elected as the mayor of Tacoma, Washington, in 2010, she served for eight years, making history as the first Black woman and first Asian-American mayor. She garnered attention in January 2021 by attending her inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in a traditional Korean hanbok.