From one trailblazer to another: U.S. Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey, who joined the Senate earlier this month, shared in a social media post that his Senate floor desk is inscribed with the name of one his personal heroes — Asian American icon Daniel Inouye.
“I learned Senate floor desks have drawers where every Senator who used that desk carves their name. I just pulled out my drawer. 1 name jumped out. INOUYE. WWII Medal of Honor. Senator for ~ 50 yrs. AAPI trailblazer. I cannot believe I get to sit at the desk of a hero of mine,” Kim wrote on X.com this week.
Kim, who was previously a three-term Congressman, is the nation’s first Korean American senator and the first Asian American senator from the entire East Coast.
He was elected in November and appointed to his new post on Dec. 8 — about a month early — following the resignation of interim Sen. George Helmy, who served for three months. The seat had been vacated in August after the conviction of former Sen. Robert Menendez for corruption.
Helmy, for his part, was the only Arab American in the Senate during his brief yet productive tenure, during which he gave a Senate floor speech on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy, who had appointed Helmy to the interim post, said in a statement that he chose to appoint Kim a month early since: “Taking this step will allow Senator Kim to embark on the smoothest possible transition into his new role so he can hit the ground running serving the people of New Jersey.”
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