Korean American candidates had mixed fortunes in Tuesday's midterm elections, with some even finding themselves facing off against fellow Korean Americans.
In Massachusetts' 6th Congressional District, where results came in earliest, Dan Ko — whose Korean name is Ko Won-young — became the seventh Korean American ever elected to the US House of Representatives. With 42% of ballots counted, Ko had secured 64.5% of the vote, leaving Republican rival Micah Quinney Jones, who was limited to 35.6%, more than 30 percentage points behind. The district is considered a Democratic stronghold.
Ko, who carries the Jeju Ko clan surname after his father, ran in a different Massachusetts district in 2018 but lost in the primary. Tuesday's win marked his second attempt.
In Washington's 10th Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Marilyn Strickland won a fourth term. Born to a Korean War veteran father and a Korean mother, Strickland has the Korean name Kim Sun-ja. She drew wide attention when she took her oath of office wearing a hanbok — a traditional Korean garment — at her swearing-in ceremony in January 2021. With 62% of ballots counted, Strickland had captured 64.4% of the vote as of around 8:21 p.m. Pacific time.
"The American people rejected (Donald) Trump's chaos, cruelty and corruption," Strickland said in her victory remarks, vowing to fight the Trump administration on issues including the cost of living, workers' wages and voting rights.
Dave Min, another Korean American House member running as a Democrat in California, declared victory roughly 30 minutes after counting began. With 47% of ballots in, Min led Republican Jenny Ray Leroue 59.5% to 40.5%. However, no news outlet or official projection had yet called the race in his favor.
"It's a tremendous night for Democrats," Min said. "Being able to declare victory this quickly is a new experience. I feel honored — I think this validates the work of the past two years and what I intend to do going forward."
In Oklahoma, meanwhile, Democratic candidate Cindy Munson — who was seeking to become both the state's first Korean American governor and the first Asian American woman to hold the office — narrowly lost to Republican Mike Mazei. Oklahoma has not elected a Democratic governor since 2010 and is a reliably Republican state.
Munson, whose father served in the US military and whose mother is Korean, received 45.9% of the vote with 97% of ballots counted, falling short of Mazei by 6.1 percentage points.
In California's 40th Congressional District, Rep. Young Kim (Korean name Kim Young-ok) was locked in a tough race against Republican Ken Calvert, a 17-term veteran. Calvert had previously run in the 41st District but was drawn into the same district as Kim following redistricting.
With about 35% of ballots counted as of 9:30 p.m. Pacific time, Calvert led with 54% to Kim's 46%, a gap of roughly 8 percentage points. California's heavy reliance on mail-in ballots means the final result could take time to emerge.
The election also produced at least one Korean American matchup. Strickland faced Republican Chris Jeong (Korean name Jeong Dong-bok), who is also Korean American. Jeong was limited to 35.1% of the vote.
kate01@heraldcorp.com
