Back in January, I was able to meet up with Korean American Dave Min,
who is running for Congress in California’s 45th Congressional District, which is in Southern California, encompassing part of Irvine:
Min was raised in the Palo Alto area and we have a mutual friend who introduced us to each other. Min is currently a law professor at the University of California, Irvine. From his campaign website:
“A first-generation Korean-American, Dave worked as an enforcement attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission, as an economic and financial policy advisor to Senator Chuck Schumer, and as an economic policy director at the Center for American Progress. Dave grew up in California, and Dave and his wife Jane settled in Irvine where they both teach at the UC Irvine School of Law while raising their three children.”
I had a chance to chat with Min at a local Starbucks for almost 17 minutes to ask him about running against Republican incumbent Representative Mimi Walters along with a field of Democratic candidates (including another UC Irvine professor!)
From a demographics standpoint, the 45th Congressional District (CD-45) is fairly diverse and highly educated:
- 66.9% White
- 21.0% Asian
- 1.4% Black
- 18.7% Hispanic
- High school graduation rate: 92.5%
- College graduation rate: 50%
More importantly, Orange County in 2016 49.8 percent voted for Hillary Clinton compared to 44.9 for Trump when Walters got re-elected. Although Orange County has traditionally been fairly conservative (certain for California), given how unpopular Trump is in California, there’s a good chance for Min or another Democrat to defeat Walters.
Best of luck to Min – it’ll be interesting to see if he can make it past the open “jungle” primary with so many running for the seat.
