ANAHEIM - State Asm. Tom Daly, who served as mayor of Anaheim
for 10 years
and now chairs the Assembly Insurance Committee,
today threw his support behind Sukhee Kang for state Senate
in
the open 29
th
Senate District, located at the confluence of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
About 60 percent of Anaheim is in the 29
th
District.
Daly is the only Democratic Assembly member representing Orange County in Sacramento.
"
I am endorsing Sukhee Kang for state Senate because as the former mayor of Anaheim, I know he will be a great representative for Anaheim and Orange County in Sacramento,
"
Daly said.
"
Sukhee will be a mature, thoughtful and fair-minded senator, and will be a good bridge between the business community and labor, and between Democrats and Republicans
. He
will always put the best interests of the people of the 29th Senate District first.
"
"I am
delighted that Asm. Tom Daly has seen fit to endorse and support my campaign for state Senate,"
Kang said. "
Tom is the very
example
of a great public servant, and someone I have looked up to for many years as a role model.
I am
very
proud that he is backing me in my race."
Daly was first elected to the Assembly in 2012, representing the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Orange and Santa Ana. He was overwhelmingly reelected in 2014
with nearly 70 percent of the vote
.
From 2002-12, after his stint as mayor of Anaheim,
Daly was the elected Orange County clerk-recorder. He first sought elective office in 1986, winning election as a board member of the Anaheim Union High School District.
As mayor of Anaheim, Daly oversaw major public and
p
rivate investments in the city, including the expansion of the Resort Area, leading to the creation of thousands of jobs. He also served on the board of directors of the Orange County Transportation Authority, where he helped oversee a $3
-
billion improvement program for road and transit projects in every community in Orange County.
As countywide clerk-recorder, Daly opened two branch offices for the convenience of the public, saving the office's customers more than one million miles of driving every year.
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 38 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, including Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de León. The district is currently represented by Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff, who cannot run again due to term limits.
K
ang 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. In 2009, Kang was recognized as one of the O.C. Metro's "Hot 25 Platinum Civic Leaders."
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, 32, 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.
