OAKLAND - Sukhee Kang, the party-endorsed Democratic candidate in Senate District 29, today picked up a major endorsement, the influential California Nurses Association. The district is at the confluence of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. 

 

Founded in 1903, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee/AFL-CIO, is a premiere organization of registered nurses and one of the nation's fastest-growing labor and professional organizations, with more than 86,000 members in hospitals, clinics and home-health agencies in all 50 states. In the past 15 years, CNA/NNOC has grown by nearly 400 percent. CNA/NNOC is also a founding member of the 185,000-member National Nurses United, which in 2009 united CNA/NNOC, the United American Nurses, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association to create the largest union and professional association of nurses in U.S. history. 

 

"The California Nurses Association supports Sukhee Kang because he puts the health of the people first," said CNA RN Co-President Malinda Markowitz. "Sukhee is a champion of health care for all - and shows the effectiveness and leadership California needs from its state senators. Nurses know they can count on Sukhee Kang to stand up to the for-profit healthcare interests in the fight to make sure all Californians have quality health care." 

 

"I am enormously grateful for the endorsement of such a venerable and distinguished organization as the California Nurses Association in my race for the Senate," Kang said. "I am particularly gratified that the first healthcare organization to become involved in the campaign has seen fit to strongly support my candidacy. I look forward to working with CNA and nurses throughout California in the Senate to help improve our healthcare system at all levels." 

 

Kang also has won the support of Sen. Kevin de León, the president pro tempore and Democratic leader of the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Bill Monning, and Sen. Connie Leyva, chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus.  In addition, four past presidents pro tem of the Senate have come out in support of Kang's candidacy.  

 

Kang was a two-term city councilmember in Irvine, as well as a two-term mayor of the city, reelected overwhelmingly in 2010 with more than 64 percent of the vote. He and his wife Joanne, also a South Korean native who immigrated to the U.S. with him in 1977, have been residents of Orange County for 39 years and now live in Fullerton.

Kang announced his candidacy for the open 29th Senate District on April 22, the first Democrat to do so, and has since picked up dozens of endorsements from state and local officials, community leaders and organizations throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties.  The district is currently represented by former Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff, who cannot run again due to term limits.

Kang has been recognized numerous times for his outstanding public service and community leadership, including receiving the American Diabetes Association's "Orange County Father of the Year Award" in 2012, the Carnegie Corporation's "Pride of America" award in 2010, and the International Leadership Foundation's "Public Servant of the Year" award in 2010.  The Irvine Chamber of Commerce also recognized Kang in 2010 as "Business Leader of the Year." 

 

A veteran, Kang served in the South Korean Army, then graduated from the prestigious Korea University with a degree in agricultural economics, and in 2011 was awarded an honorary doctorate from Dongseo University in Busan, Korea.  He also has served a special advisor to the chancellor of UC Irvine, and as an adjunct professor and Chancellor Fellow at Chapman University. 

 

The Kang children, Alan, 35, and Angie, 33, attended public schools in Anaheim, where the Kang family lived for 10 years. Alan, a graduate of USC's Marshall School of Business, is a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Angie, a graduate of Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall), is senior counsel at Hulu.