The Korea Daily will officially endorse candidates in this election as well. This is to help Korean-American voters exercise their valuable right to vote. The Candidate Evaluation Committee, an ad hoc internal panel, has evaluated policy pledges and media interviews of candidates for objective verification to determine whom the Korea Daily would endorse.
We will make public the candidates the Korea Daily is endorsing for the March 5 primary, which will take place before the general election in November. The candidates we’ve selected have attracted voters’ attention with their promises and visions for the future. They also have a strong chance of advancing to the general election in November. -Ed
7. Dave Min, U.S. House of Representatives (47th District)
Dave Min, a lawyer who made his mark in the California state Senate, is vying to become the fifth Korean-American member of Congress. The 47th District, which includes the southern Orange County cities of Irvine, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, and Laguna Hills, is vacant after one-time rival incumbent Katie Porter left for the U.S. Senate.
In 2022, Porter defeated Scott Baugh by 3.44 percentage points in this district, confirming it as a Democratic stronghold, but Republicans are making a strong push to retake it. Currently, the 37th State Senate District makes up 80% of the 47th Congressional District, and Min won by garnering 158,000 votes, defeating his rival by 5.15 percentage points. The 47th District is home to many highly educated and affluent Asian Americans (19% of the population).
If elected to Congress, Min will fill the seat vacated by U.S. Representative Andy Kim of New Jersey, who is running for the U.S. Senate and is expected to serve on the Judiciary Committee. Min, who attended Harvard Law School and taught at UC Irvine School of Law before entering politics, has promised to work to prevent gun violence, achieve environmental justice, protect victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and enhance public safety.
Min is currently endorsed by Lieutenant Governor of California Eleni Kounalakis, Attorney General of California Rob Bonta, Congresswoman Katie Porter, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, and the service industry union SEIU. His campaign website is davemin.com.
8. David Kim, U.S. House of Representatives (34th District)
David Kim, a candidate who dreams of “third time’s a charm,” is making his third run at the same incumbent with a consistent platform.
The 34th Congressional District, which includes LA Koreatown, is 63% Latino and has had a Latino representative since the 1980s. The Asian population is 19% as of 2022. That’s why Kim’s last vote was almost a miracle.
Kim is a progressive, LGBTQ, and lawyer who helps immigrant families and children in court. He was born into a pastor’s family and understands Korean immigrant families, including those of the 1980s and 1990s. Proof of his appeal is the percentage of votes he received in the last two elections. In 2020, he won 47% of the vote against the incumbent in a runoff. The difference was 12,238 votes. In his second challenge, in November 2022, he narrowed it to 3,021 votes. Just 1,500 more votes could have turned the tide.
The 34th District is a large urban and working-class district that stretches north of downtown LA, south of Glendale and Pasadena, north of Vernon, and west of Montebello.
Kim is running on a platform of pro-life policies, community engagement, and people-centered politics. His new politics is all about putting the power back in the hands of the underrepresented, and he’s calling for a change from the incumbents, who are bought and paid for by health, pharmaceutical, and weapons manufacturing giants and political lobbying firms. Kim has pledged to never take money from lobbying firms if elected.
His campaign website is davidkimforca.com.
