Korean American Representation in Congress

Korean American voices need to be heard inside the room where decisions are made. The record set in 2018 of two Korean Americans running for Congress has been eclipsed with more than double the number of Korean Americans running for Congress in 2020.

In 2018, Andy Kim of New Jersey became the first Korean American elected to the US Congress since 1992.  He was the first Korean American elected on the East Coast and the first Democrat. He is up for re-election this year.

This year there are 5 candidates running for Congress from three states: New Jersey, California, and Washington.

Read more about the Americans of Korean descent who are running for the 118th Congress below.

Members of Congress

Andy Kim

Democrat, New Jersey 3rd

Michelle Park Steel

Republican, California 48th

Young Kim

Republican, California 39th

Marilyn Strickland

Democrat, Washington 10th

Twenty members of Congress represent
more than one in three KAs

We need more Korean Americans in elected office — but our elected representatives need not be Korean to serve us effectively.

In the 114th Congress (2015-2016), more than one-third of the Korean American population was covered by just twenty of the 435 members of the US House of Representatives, and none of them were KA.

As our community grows, we must hold candidates and incumbents, both Korean and non-Korean accountable. KAPA will publish legislative scorecards and campaign questionnaires to help compare their actions to our priorities.

KA % State Dist. Representative Party KA Pop.
8.51% CA 34 Jimmy Gomez Dem 60,137
7.01% CA 39 Ed Royce Rep 48,164
6.17% NJ 9 Bill Pascrell, Jr. Dem 42,249
6.01% NY 6 Grace Meng Dem 42,296
4.35% CA 45 Mimi Walters Rep 30,854
4.33% VA 11 Gerry Connolly Dem 30,323
3.47% CA 38 Linda Sanchez Dem 23,176
3.08% CA 28 Adam Schiff Dem 22,713
2.88% NY 3 Tom Suozzi Dem 20,533
2.86% GA 7 Rob Woodall Rep 21,739
KA % State Dist. Representative Party KA Pop.
2.59% HI 1 Colleen Hanabusa Dem 19,123
2.58% CA 33 Ted Lieu Dem 19,637
2.19% CA 43 Maxine Waters Dem 16,408
2.17% NJ 5 Josh Gottheimer Dem 17,119
2.13% VA 10 Barbara Comstock Rep 15,396
2.07% CA 30 Brad Sherman Dem 15,957
2.02% WA 9 Adam Smith Dem 15,501
1.99% CA 47 Alan Lowenthal Dem 15,458
1.98% NY 12 Carolyn Maloney Dem 14,070
1.97% CA 18 Anna Eshoo Dem 14,986

Questions?

Email us at info@kapaction.org