Thirty-six hours after she was declared the winner in the race for Congress from California’s 39th District (Orange County), Republican Young Kim told Newsmax that her party is the “Great Opportunity Party” for minorities.
“We showed that minorities will support a Republican, and Republican values did not change,” Kim told us, citing Republican values as “healthcare reform, being pro-business, and for immigration that is fair and compassionate.”
Noting that her district is 28% Asian and 32% Latino, Kim said “we have a lot of immigrants, but they came here the legal way. That’s how it should be. And once we secure the border, we can work out the problems we have in our system of legal immigration.”
Like fellow Republican Rep.-elect Michelle Steel in the neighboring district, Kim came with her parents to the U.S. from Seoul, South Korea. A graduate of the University of Southern California and mother of four, Kim served for 21 years as a top district aide to Republican Rep. Ed Royce and served one term in the State Assembly.
When Royce announced his retirement in 2018, he campaigned hard for Kim as his successor. But riding a strong Democrat wave that year, Democrat Gil Cisneros emerged as the narrow winner.
But by about 4,000 votes, Kim turned the tables on Cisneros this year.
“He promised to be a moderate and break the gridlock in Washington,” Kim recalled, “but he turned out to part of the problem — the same old partisanship.”
The Republican pointed to Cisneros’ criticism of her for opposing the Democrat-supported HEROES Act for COVID-19 relief and for wanting to repeal the Affordable Care Act and thus wanting to eliminate coverage for preexisting conditions.
“There was bipartisan opposition to the HEROES Act,” she told us. “And as the mother of a daughter with preexisting conditions, the idea that I wanted to get rid of such coverage is ridiculous — out of the question.” Her daughter had a brain tumor and is recovering from two surgeries.
Kim’s agenda on the issue is “healthcare that is affordable and covers preexisting conditions.”
Since being declared the winner of her hard-fought contest, Kim has been asked about her foreign policy stands and whether she favors joining a conservative caucus to take on “the squad” of the hard-left among House Democrats.
For now, she told us, “I’m going to look at these things but my big question is going to be ‘what will be good for the 39th District?’ That’s what I’m focusing on.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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