The fast-growing number of politicians of Asian/Asian
Pacific American descent are being elected to properly represent and understand
the needs of their respective communities. Click on the below "links"
to discover more information on these talented trailblazers.
U.S. SENATOR
DANIEL KAHIKINA AKAKA OF HAWAII - a Democrat, has served in
the United States Senate since 1990 to complete the term of the late
Senator Spark M. Matsunaga. He was elected to his current term in November
1994 with over 70 percent of the popular vote--the largest margin of
victory in the Senate that year. Senator Akaka is the first U.S. Senator
of Native Hawaiian ancestry and is the only Chinese American member
of the Senate.
WILMA CHAN - is California Assembly’s first Majority Leader
ELAINE CHAO - in 2000, was appointed to President Bush's cabinet.
She was president and chief executive officer of United Way of America
(UWA) in August 1996 to serve as a distinguished fellow at The Heritage
Foundation, a prominent policy research institute in Washington, DC.
She is currently married to Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky.
NGUYEN
MINH CHAU - aspires to be in the Maryland House of Delegates.
She is a fourth-term elected Council member for the town of Garrett
Park, and a representative of the Maryland Municipal League (MML)
and the Garrett Park Elementary School.
SATVEER
CHAUDHARY - is the third South Asian American elected legislator
in United States history. He's also Minnesota's first Asian Pacific
American to hold elected office and one of only two South Asian Americans
currently in office nationwide.
EDWARD
CHEN - First Asian American on San Francisco Federal Bench.
ANNA CHAN CHENAULT - Was co-chairwoman of the Republican National
Committee's Finance Committee (1966-1983) and twice chairman of the
National Republican Heritage Groups Council. Informal tasks were performed
with U.S. Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan.
President Kennedy named her the chairman of the Chinese Refugees Relief
Committee, making her the first person of Chinese ancestry to be named
to the White House staff.
ALAN
CHEUNG - He is the first Asian to break through the "glass
ceiling" in Montgomery County politics and state government. He's
a member of Montgomery
County Board of Education.
RUSSELL CHEW - L.A. native was selected in 2003 by U.S.
Department of Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta to be the
Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA). As the COO, Russell Chew oversees the operational and financial
performance of the U.S. air traffic control system and the FAA’s
research and acquisition programs.
JOHN CHIANG - John Chiang is California State Controller. He chaired the state Board of Equalization, a post that steeps him in tax and financial policy. Intuit, the owner of the software program TurboTax, vehemently opposed John Chiang's efforts to make free software available from the state for those who want to pay their taxes online.
VIET
DINH - is the highest-ranking Vietnamese American official
in the Bush Administration, working as assistant attorney general
overseeing the Office of Legal Policy
MARCH FONG EU - prominent California politician who has broken
many barriers for Asian Americans and women in politics.
HIRAM FONG - elected as Hawaii's first senator in 1959. A Republican,
Fong went on to serve Hawaii for three terms until retiring in 1977.
He had served in Hawaii's territorial legislature from 1938 to 1954,
including four years as vice-speaker of the House of Representatives,
and six years as speaker. He was vice-president of the Hawaii State
Constitutional Convention held in 1950, and was a longtime, ardent supporter
of Hawaiian statehood.
MATT FONG - son of former California Secretary of State March
Fong Eu (Democrat) is a Republican.
S.I. HAYAKAWA - Dr. Samuel Ichiye (S. I.) Hayakawa became the first American of Asian descent to be elected to the U.S. Senate from a mainland state. Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa was born in Vancouver, Canada on July 18, 1906 of Japanese immigrant parents. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1955. After leaving the Senate he once again became a galvanizing force for both major parties by introducing a constitutional amendment to require the use of English in all public discourses.
DANIEL INOUYE - elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
in 1959 as Hawaii's first Congressman, and then to the U.S. Senate
in 1962 till 2002 was a distinguished war veteran.
PAUL
JIN - Korean American is the chairman of the National Federation
of Asian Pacific American Republicans and appointed as director of the
Planning and Policy Analysis Bureau of the Peace Corps, the third highest
position in the organization and deputy secretary level. He has been
an active campaign manager for Republican presidential candidates for
decades, including Ronald Reagan, George Bush, George W. Bush and Bob
Dole.
BOBBY
JINDAL - Baton Rouge, La., native Bobby Jindal, a whiz kid
takes the reins of Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals
and appointed in February 1998 to serve as the Executive Director
of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare in
Washington, D.C. Jindal was named President of Louisiana's largest
College System. In 2004, he became the 2nd Indian American elected
to Congress.
A.G. KAWAMURA
- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed the third-generation
Orange County native and farmer-owner of Orange County Produce as his
agriculture secretary. This child of parents that were interned had
served on two U.S. Department of Agriculture committees, chairman of
the Western Growers Assn., an Irvine-based industry group for farmers
and shippers; president of the Orange County Farm Bureau; member of
the California Strawberry Commission, California Farm Bureau Federation's
Labor and Fruit and Vegetable committees.
HAROLD HONGJU KOH - Harold Hongju Koh was sworn in as Assistant
Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor on November
13, 1998. A Korean-American, he was nominated by President Clinton
on September 10, 1998 and confirmed by the Senate on October 21, 1998.
FLORA GIL KRISILOFF - This elected Southern California official
was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Taiwan as one of five children.
Her mother, who was Chinese, was a nurse and her father, who was Chinese
and Costa Rican, was a manager in the civilian air service.
TONY LAM - the first Vietnamese American to hold an elected
office
PATSY MINK - she was the first Asian American and woman of
color to be elected to Congress.
ROBERT T. MATSUI (D) CALIFORNIA - Elected to Congress in 1978,
Robert
T. Matsui has gained a national and international reputation as
an effective, strategic leader on far-reaching and complex public
policy issues including international trade, social security, tax
policy, public health and free and fair trade initiatives. He has
also served two decades on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
Congressman Matsui has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award
by the Anti Defamation League for his work mentioned above and with
children.
RUBY G. MOY - In 1997, eight Commissioners on the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights unanimously approved the President's nominee Ruby G.
Moy to be Staff Director of the Commission. Dutes include to investigate
complaints civil rights infringement in all forms, collect information,
to appraise Federal laws/policies to the violations, serve as a clearinghouse
for info, submit reports to the President/Congress and issue PSA's to
discourage equal protection of the laws.
LAN NGUYEN - 1st Vietnamese American elected to a school board
WILLIAM OUCHI -Hawaii-born native, who comes from a family
of teachers who felt stifled by out-of-touch bureaucrats, was a pivotal
figure in the future of California public education and reform by
bringing entrepreneurial methods to California’s 8,000 schools
with Education Secretary Richard Riordan - a friend for a quarter
century. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tapped Ouchi to write an initial
draft of his education platform during his gubernatorial campaign.
Dr. Ouchi was an advisor to the Joint Senate-Assembly Committee on
Preparing California for the 21st Century, a past member of the Consumer
Advisory Committee of the S.E.C., and chair of the Riordan Programs,
which serve minority high school and college students in Southern
California. He lives in Santa Monica, California.
H.K. PARK - was the Special Assistant to the Defense Department's
Chief of Staff from 1999 to 2001, Deputy Assistant to the Secretary
of Defense for Civil Support, Term Member of the Council on Foreign
Relations and currently a Senior Associate at the Cohen
Group.
DANG PHAM - Executive Director of San Francisco’s Immigrant
Rights Commission
PAUL SHIN - the first Korean- American to be elected a state
senator
DAHLIP SINGH SAUND - In 1952 became the first Asian American
and the only Asian
Indian to have ever been elected to Congress from a mainland state.
His poignant and immortal quote "There is no room in the United States
of America for second-class citizenship" applies even more today!
KIP TOKUDA - US Representative from Washington State.
VAN TRAN - 1st Vietnamese American legislator in California
that represents the largest Vietnamese population in the U.S. and
(as a Republican) a minority among Asian representatives. Tran, Assemblywoman
Shirley Horton (R-Chula Vista), whose mother is Japanese, and Assemblyman
Alan Nakanishi (R-Lodi) have asked to become members of the Asian
Pacific Islander Caucus, a move that the Democratic membership is
mulling over in 2005.
HUBERT VO - Hubert Vo made his bid for the Texas State Legislature in 2004 as a Democrat by challenging a powerful Republican incumbent (Talmadge Heflin) who had been weakened by a bizarre scandal and won by 16 votes. Hubert Vo has the distinction of becoming the first Vietnamese American elected to the Texas Legislature.
MARTHA WONG - She was the first Asian-American school principal
in Houston, the first Asian-American to be elected to the Houston City
Council and the first Asian-American woman to be elected to the Texas
Legislature - a state that has the fourth-largest population of Asians
within the United States.
LELAND YEE - In November 1996, Leland Yee was elected to the
Board of Supervisor. Before he elected to the Board of Supervisors,
Yee served eight years as a member of the San Francisco Board of Education.
He served as the Vice President and President of the Board.
EDWARD
HACHRO KUBO - U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii
MICHAEL
MINORU FAWN - Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian
Housing in the Department of Housing and Urban Development
NORMAN
MINETA - Secretary for the Department of Transportation
SAMUEL
T. MOK - Chief Financial Officer for the Department of
Labor
SHIRIN
RAZIUDDIN - U.S. Representative to the United Nations’
Economic and Social Council/Human Rights Commission in the
Department of South Asia Program/Foreign Policy Institute
SICHAN
SIV - Ambassador to the United Nations in the Economic
and Social Council from the Department of State
DR.
GEORGE THOMAS - Serve on the Bush Administration's
National Heart, Lung and Blood Advisory Council of the National
Institutes of Health till 2005.
