1. Early life, education, and business career

2. Political career
    California Assembly  2018 House of Representatives election 

3. Policy positions

4. Personal life

5. Electoral history
    2014 California State Assembly election   2016 California State Assembly election  

6. See also

7. References

8. External links

In 2018 Kim was the Republican Party candidate in California's 39th congressional district. Kim was defeated by Gil Cisneros in the general election.^[2] Had she won, Kim would have become the first Korean-American woman elected to Congress.^[3]

Early life, education, and business career

Kim was born in Incheon, South Korea, and spent her childhood in Seoul. She and her family left South Korea in 1975, living first on Guam, where she finished junior high school.^[4]

She began studies at the University of Southern California in 1981, and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from that institution.^[5]

After graduating from USC, Kim worked as a financial analyst for First Interstate Bank and then as a controller for JK Sportswear Manufacturing.^[6] Kim also started her own business in the ladieswear field.^[4]

Political career

Kim's husband met Ed Royce, then a state senator, while promoting a nonprofit, the Korean American Coalition.^[6] Royce later hired Kim to work for him. When Royce was elected to the U.S. House, she continued to work for him, putting in a total of 21 years as the congressman's community liaison and director of Asian affairs.^[4] During much of that time she also appeared regularly on her own television show, “LA Seoul with Young Kim,” and her own radio show, “Radio Seoul,” on which she discussed political issues affecting Korean Americans.^[6]

California Assembly

She was elected to the Assembly in 2014, defeating Democratic Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva. In 2016, in turn, Quirk-Silva defeated Kim in a rematch.^[7]

2018 House of Representatives election

In 2017, Kim announced she would be running for the Orange County Board of Supervisors, a nonpartisan office, in the 4th district, which includes the cities of Fullerton, Placentia, La Habra, and Brea, plus portions of Anaheim and Buena Park.^[8] However, in January 2018, immediately after Royce announced his retirement, Kim publicly declared that she would instead enter the race to succeed Royce as the representative for California's 39th congressional district.^[9] Royce endorsed Kim the day after announcing his retirement.^[4] Her opponent was Democrat Gil Cisneros. Polls showed a tight race throughout the campaign, with FiveThirtyEight rating the race as a toss-up.^[3] Early results on the night of the election showed Kim holding a 52.5%-47.5% lead,^[10][11] but Kim ultimately lost the election to Cisneros, who received 50.8% of the vote to Kim's 49.2% after mail-in ballots were counted.^[12]

Policy positions

Kim's platform for running for Assembly in 2016 included opposing changes to Proposition 13, which limited property tax.^[13] Her 2018 congressional platform included opposition to the Affordable Care Act, support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, support for "the anti-sanctuary city stance taken by the County Board of Supervisors"^[14] and support for chain migration.^[15][23][16] In 2018, NBC News reported that the issues important to Kim included "creating jobs and keeping taxes low", "beef[ing] up education funding in science, technology, engineering and math", and reforming the immigration system to "ensure those brought to the U.S. 'as children without legal documentation are treated fairly and with compassion.'"^[4] She supports student loan forgiveness if the borrower is on the verge of bankruptcy.^[15]

Kim opposed a California law "requiring schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms of their choice and participate in sports by their gender identity rather than their anatomical gender." She opposed the law over concerns that new school facilities could need to be constructed, additional spending could be required, students could change their identity "on a whim", and that male-to-female transgender students would have an unfair advantage in sports. She has said transgender individuals "deserve to be respected" but that she does not believe that LGBT individuals were born with their identities or orientations. Kim also opposes same-sex marriage.^[17]

Kim favors reduced regulations and increased trade.^[18] She is a fiscal conservative.^[19]

Personal life

Kim and her husband, Charles Kim, have been married since 1986. They have four children. Their oldest, Christine, graduated from UC Irvine; the others, Hannah, Alvin, and Kelly, graduated from Cal State Fullerton.^[20]

Charles has served as President of Inter-Community Action Network, a non-profit based in La Habra that promotes good relations between local government and the Korean community. He was also a founder of the Korean American Coalition and the Black-Korean Alliance.^[21]

Electoral history

2014 California State Assembly election

2016 California State Assembly election

See also

• History of Korean Americans in Los Angeles

References

External links

• Campaign website

• First to file and first to invent
• First-to-file doctrine
• First to file doctrine
• First to file (patent)
• First to file policy
• First-to-file policy
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• First-to-invent
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• First-to-invent doctrine
• First to invent doctrine
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• First-to-invent policy
• First to invent system
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• First Townshend Ministry
• First Townshend ministry
• First transcontinental railroad
• First Transcontinental Railroad
• First transcontinental railroad in North America
• First transcontinental railroad (North America)
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• First transcontinental railways
• First Transpennine Express