[US Midterm Elections] First Two Korean-American Members Elected to US House of Representatives

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] On the 8th (local time), in the U.S. midterm elections, Congressman Andy Kim secured a third term, followed by Korean-American Democratic Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland who easily won re-election.

Korean-American Congresswoman Strickland ran as the Democratic candidate in Washington State's 10th Congressional District election and defeated her Republican opponent Keith Swank, securing her victory.

Strickland defeated Swank by a margin of 21.4 percentage points in the primary election and also won comfortably in the general election.

With this victory, Strickland became the second Korean-American incumbent congressperson to secure re-election, following Andy Kim (Democrat) from New Jersey who achieved a third term.

In a statement released that night, Congresswoman Strickland expressed her victory sentiment, saying, "I will work to lower costs for families and businesses and create good jobs."

Strickland was born in September 1962 in Seoul to a Korean mother, Kim Inmin, and a Black father, Willie Strickland, who was a war veteran.

When she was one year old, her father was assigned to Fort Lee base in Virginia, and she moved to the U.S. She graduated from Mount Tacoma High School, studied business administration at the University of Washington, and earned an MBA from Clark Atlanta University.

After working at Northern Life Insurance and Starbucks, she entered politics by being elected as a Tacoma city council member. After two years of council experience, she was elected mayor of Tacoma and served from 2010 to 2018.

She was the first Asian American mayor of Tacoma and also the first Black woman to be elected mayor there.

She has often expressed support by saying, "Korea is a resilient country like a roly-poly toy," and believes that "when Korea does well, the U.S. does well. There are many areas for cooperation between the two countries," contributing to the development of bilateral relations.

Prior to Strickland's election, AP News and The New York Times (NYT) reported that Korean-American second-generation Congressman Andy Kim secured a third term.

Kim is a Middle East expert who served as an advisor on Iraq and ISIS at the National Security Council (NSC) during the Barack Obama administration and as a strategic advisor to the NATO commander.

Kim, a second-generation immigrant from New Jersey, defeated Republican candidate Bob Hilly in the New Jersey 3rd Congressional District election held that day.

With this, Kim became the first Korean-American congressperson to win a third term in 26 years since former Congressman Chang-jun Kim in 1996.

Kim graduated from the University of Chicago and earned a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Oxford in the UK. He joined the State Department in September 2009.

After his victory was confirmed, Kim said at a celebration party with supporters, "Many people are tired of the collapse of our politics right now," and added, "I want to show them that there is another way."