S
ACRAMENTO - Sukhee Kang
, the Democratic
Party-endorsed
candidate
for Senate District 29
,
today scored another endorsement from a sitting state senator,
with
Sen.
Holly Mitchell announcing her support.
The 29
th
District i
s
located
at the confluence
of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
"I am proud to strongly support Sukhee Kang for state Senate in District 29
," Mitchell said
.
"
Sukhee's inspirational life story as an immigrant to this country will be particularly important in this election, because the district is 68 percent minority, many of them immigrants themselves. Both in his private-sector career and as an elected official, Sukhee has demonstrated that he always puts people first, and his intelligence, experience and progressive stands on the issues will make him a great colleague in the state Senate."
" I
am enormously
appreciat
ive of Sen. Holly Mitchell's e
ndorsement
in my race for state Senate
,
"
Kang said. "
She
is
truly
one of the bright
s
tars in the
state
Senate, and
her emphasis on providing services and assistance for people in need, and her leadership on women's issues, also makes her the conscience of the Senate. I greatly look forward to serving with Sen. Mitchell.
"
Mitchell
, a UC Riverside graduate and former Coro Fellow,
has served in the California Legislature since 2011. In 2014, she was elected to represent the 30
th
Senate District, which stretches from Culver City to South Los Angeles, and includes Century City, Cheviot Hills, the Crenshaw District, USC, downtown LA and a portion on Inglewood. She chairs the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, and served on the Rules, Health, Insurance and Labor committees. Mitchell also founded the Senate Select Committee on
Women and Inequality.
Kang previously won the support of Sen. Kevin de León, the current 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 3
9
years and now live in Fullerton.
Kang announced his candidacy for the open 29
th
Senate District on April 22, the first Democrat to do so, and has since picked up dozens of endorsements from state and local officials and community leaders throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties. The district is currently represented by 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, 3
5
, and Angie, 3
3
, attended public schools in Anaheim, where the Kang family lived for 10 years.
Alan, a graduate of
UC San Diego and
USC's Marshall School of Business, is a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Angie, a graduate of Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall), is
vice president of business and legal affairs
at Hulu.
