Red-to-Blue Democratic Congressional Candidate Dave Min Champions AAPI Equity and Safety During AAPI Heritage Month
IRVINE, CA — The Dave Min for Congress campaign proudly celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, recognizing the profound and diverse contributions of AAPI individuals to California's cultural, social, and economic landscape, as well as to our nation as a whole. As the only Korean American serving in the Legislature, Senator Dave Min is at the forefront of efforts to combat anti-Asian hate and amplify the voices of the AAPI community. While serving as Vice Chair of the California AAPI Legislative Caucus, Senator Min worked tirelessly to tackle the recent surge in anti-Asian hate and championed historic state investments, including the multi-year AAPI Equity Budget, which has funded over 80 community-based organizations statewide.
"Throughout my career, I have aimed to safeguard the opportunities that hard work and the American Dream have afforded my family," Senator Min stated. "In these challenging times, as the AAPI community confronts alarming levels of bigotry and violence, I have proudly advocated for hate crime legislation in California and stood with leaders who forcefully denounce AAPI hate. I’ve worked hard to ensure that the AAPI community is ably represented, including authoring legislation and budget requests to foster more language access for those who do not speak English as a first language, and to promote greater safety in public spaces. As a father of three young children, I am absolute in my dedication to ensure AAPI representation in government and to advocate for families throughout Orange County."
In the wake of increased anti-Asian sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Min played a key role in enacting the historic AAPI Equity Budget, which directs $156.5 million to over 80 nonprofits focused on enhancing AAPI representation and combating hate crimes. In 2022, Senator Min partnered with Stop AAPI Hate and LA Metro to introduce data-driven safety solutions to increase ridership and stop harassment on public transportation, specifically safeguarding AAPI communities. SB 1161 creates a framework for the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University to understand how we can make public transit safer and develop ways California transit agencies can strategically address public safety, and overall experiences with safety.
Furthermore, Senator Min has staunchly defended language accessibility within state services. He has authored SB 1078, which would create a new Office of Language Access with California’s Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that translation requirements are being implemented to ensure better awareness of available healthcare services and to drive better health outcomes. Earlier in his term, Senator Min intervened to help reverse a decision by the CA Department of Motor Vehicles to eliminate 25 languages, including Korean, Tagalog, and Arabic, from its written drivers tests. Additionally, when the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control initially offered the state’s Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) Training Program only in English and Spanish, Senator Min advocated for the inclusion of other languages such as Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hindi, and Punjabi. This ensured that employees from diverse linguistic backgrounds were not disadvantaged in complying with regulations designed to mitigate the risks of serving alcohol to minors and overly intoxicated patrons.
Beyond his legislative endeavors, Senator Min is actively involved in community leadership. He serves on the Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties' AAPI Leadership Council, co-founded the Orange County Korean American Democratic Committee, and was a founding member and director of Asian Americans in Action. Throughout his public and private life, Senator Min has stood loudly and forcefully against hate of all kinds, denouncing and addressing anti-Asian hate, anti-Semitic hate, anti-Muslim hate, anti-Black hate, and anti-LGBTQ+ hate, including by leading over 200 anti-hate events.
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California’s 47th is an open Congressional District in Orange County that includes the Cities of Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach, and Seal Beach, and portions of Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, and Laguna Woods. Incumbent Katie Porter is vacating the seat to run for U.S. Senate. In 2022, Porter defeated former Assemblymember Republican Scott Baugh by 3.44% in this “toss-up” district. State Senator Dave Min currently represents over 80% of Congressional District 47 in Sacramento. In 2020, Min received over 158,000 votes within CA-47, defeating incumbent John Moorlach by 5.15% in this area. 19% of the registered voters in CA-47 are of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, including one of the largest Korean-American populations in the country.