Now that former Congressman Gil Cisneros has taken a position with the Biden Administration in the Pentagon, Jay Chen is the favorite to be the candidate to oppose Young Kim in 2022 in CA-39. His campaign issued this memo today.
Strong Fundraising
Lieutenant Commander Jay Chen, an Intelligence Officer in the United States Navy Reserves and President of the Board of Trustees for Mt. San Antonio Community College, reported an impressive $436,000 in the first fundraising quarter of 2021 with over 2,500 individual contributions.
Broad Coalition of Support
Since announcing his candidacy, Lt. Commander Chen has built a broad coalition of support from Congressional leadership, and dozens of state and local elected officials.
- California State Controller Betty Yee
- U.S. Representative Ted Lieu (CA-33)
- U.S. Representative Grace Napolitano (CA-32)
- U.S. Representative Mark Takano (CA-41)
- U.S. Representative Judy Chu (CA-27)
- Assemblymember Sharon Quirk Silva (CA-65)
- Assemblymember David Chiu (CA-17)
- Fmr. California State Treasurer John Chiang
- Los Angeles County Assessor Jeffrey Prang
- Mayor of Buena Park Connor Traut
- Buena Park City Council Member Susan Sonne
- Diamond Bar City Council Member Andrew Chou
- Diamond Bar City Council Member Stan Liu
- Fullerton City Council Member Fred Jung
- La Habra City Council Member Rose Espinoza
- Fmr. Mayor of Walnut Andrew Rodriguez
- Walnut City Council Member Allen Wu
- Walnut City Council Member Linda Freedman
- Full list available at: https://chenforcongress.com/endorsements/
From The District, For The District
While first term incumbent Republican Young Kim has been widely criticized for voting against the American Rescue Plan, the Equality Act, and against bi-partisan legislation on immigration reform and gun control, Chen, the son of Chinese immigrants is ideally suited to represent this multicultural district as a locally elected school board trustee who has worked with community leaders from all parties to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
CA-39 Voter Registration
Dem – 36.7%
Rep – 32.6%
CA39 Presidential
Joe Biden – 54.1%
Donald Trump – 44%
CA-39 AAPI Registration
Chinese – 39,655
Korean – 21,875