Scarlett Shin '27
After serving for three terms in Congress, Andy Kim has moved on to become the first Korean-American senator. He defeated his Republican opponent Curtis Bagshaw and is taking Bob Menedez's seat in the Senate.
However, Kim will be inducted at the end of the month rather than in January. This is due to Menendez’s resignation. He was accused of federal bribery and corruption, which caused him to resign early in August.
Mr. Kim lives in New Jersey, where Asian Americans make up most of the population, especially in Northern Jersey towns like Palisades Park, where 52% of residents are of Korean descent. This win is historic for Asian Americans. Despite being one of the fastest-growing demographic groups in the country, they are greatly underrepresented in local, state, and federal government.
Kim hopes that his win will usher in a new era of politics. During his term, he plans to promote Asian participation and representation in politics and oppose tax breaks for the wealthy.
Through his policies, Kim has made a significant difference in New Jersey. Kim led a lawsuit to eliminate New Jersey's party-line ballot during his race. This places candidates endorsed by a county party in another column. He believes candidates should be grouped by party rather than county-line because of the disadvantage to other candidates not supported by party leaders. The design was outlawed this past May, and the New Jersey ballots were revised.
Although victorious, he has received a lot of criticism. Many people claimed he wasn't a viable candidate or would be ineffective as a state representative.
However, he continues to emphasize his ability to represent everyone, not just Asian-Americans, “I have as much right to represent the state of New Jersey as anybody else. My story isn’t just a Korean American or an Asian-American story. It’s fundamentally an American story, and that’s what I think about when I think about representation.”
Opmerkingen