Republican Young Kim hopes to be the first Korean American woman ever to be elected to Congress.
In normal political times, she would be a shoo-in to be elected in a Republican-dominated district in California which contains Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. This campaign, however, is considered by many to be a referendum on an unpopular president.
The most recent poll shows Kim taking a four-point lead against Democrat Gil Cisneros, a Navy veteran and philanthropist, according to CNBC.
Outgoing GOP incumbent Ed Royce has won the last three elections by double digits, but he joined a host of Republicans in retiring amidst the growing division of a Trump presidency.
Kim served as an aide in Royce’s district office before being elected to the State Assembly, only to be unseated after one term.
“I try to tell them I’m not running to be his spokesperson or represent Donald Trump in the White House,” she said to the Los Angeles Times.
Yet her campaign knows they can’t completely abandon the President either.
“President Trump is not on the ballot, but his agenda is totally in this midterm election,” said Saga Conroy, who spoke recently to rally Kim’s volunteers. “If we lose the majority in Congress, everything he achieved could be lost.”
According to Mother Jones, Kim was born in South Korea and was a businesswoman before entering politics. The publication called her out for basically having to boast for herself in a recent campaign ad. “Young Kim wins bipartisan support for Orange County,” the ad proclaims. “Young Kim: ‘Addressing the homeless youth crisis,’” it goes on to say. The quotations were lifted from Kim’s news release and something she wrote herself in an op-ed in the OC Register.
Her opponent, Cisneros, is doing his best to paint Kim as a crony for the Trump White House, but she says she’s never met Trump.
Democrat Hillary Clinton carried this district by 9 points, giving her party hope that it can flip this district and return the House of Representatives to Democratic control.
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