Dan Koh concedes after recount confirms primary outcome

DAN KOH CAMPAIGN

Dan Koh and his wife Amy. His campaign generated enthusiasm from thousands of volunteers.

LORI TRAHAN eked out a victory over Korean American Dan Koh in the 3rd Congressional District race, the results of which were delayed a week because of the tiny margin separating the top two Democratic candidates.

After the recount, the 52 vote margin after the polls closed was expanded to 145 votes.

“Out of 89,000 votes, it looks like we fell short by about 0.1 percent,” Koh said in his letter that was posted Monday (Sept. 16) on social media.

“There’s no use in getting upset about the close margin – we can’t afford to. It’s time for us to unite behind Lori Trahan to be sure this seat stays Democratic.”

Trahan was the chief of staff to former Rep. Marty Meehan.

The weeklong recount Secretary of State William Galvin naming her the Democratic Party's nominee to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas. Trajan will run against Republican Rick Green and independent candidate Mike Mullen.in the Nov. 6 election.

Koh, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s former chief of staff, had the option of dragging the recount into court by contesting ballots but he declined.

Koh, who is of Korean and Lebanese descent, ended his letter with, "Stay tuned. This is only the beginning," and his campaign catchphrase, "Let's go!" hinting that his future plans may involve a return to politics.

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AAPI Vote 2018: Massachusetts congressional candidate Koh: There will be a recount

Democratic candidates Dan Koh and Lori Traham await the results of a recount.

WITH ONLY 52 votes separating the top two Democratic finishers, Dan Koh has filed a request for a recount in the congressional race in Massachusetts' District 3.
Even though Lori Traham of Westford claimed victory, her campaign also filed for a recount.

"We want the process to progress as swiftly as possible so that the ultimate nominee will have adequate time and resources to win in November," the Koh campaign said in a Friday morning statement.

Secretary of State William Galvin on Wednesday ordered all ballots and election paperwork for the race be impounded in case a recount became necessary.

Koh and Trahan were among 10 Democrats seeking their party's nomination for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, a Lowell Democrat who is retiring after more than a decade in the House.

Koh, a Korean Lebanese American, had worked as Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's chief of staff and Trahan was chief of staff for former Congressman Marty Meehan, now president at the University of Massachusetts.

The ultimate winner in the race will face Republican nominee Rick Green and unenrolled candidate Michael Mullin.
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Korean American congressional candidate awaits final vote in Massachusetts

Dan Koh with his parents.

JUST 52 vOTES separate Korean American Dan Koh and Lori Trahan in the Congressional Third District Democratic primary in Massachusetts.
Trahan has 18,368 votes (21.64-percent) to Koh’s 18,316 votes (21.58-percent). Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin ordered all ballots in the race be sealed and locked up so they can’t be tampered with if there’s a recount.

“Given the closeness of the results in the 3rd CD — with 85,000 votes cast and only a handful of votes separating the top two finishers – and the fact that all ballots, including possibly hundreds of provisional ballots, have not been counted, it’s clear that the final outcome of the election will not be known for a few days,” Koh’s campaign said in a statement Wednesday.

The statement continued: “Dan Koh is committed to making sure all ballots are counted. Secretary of State Galvin has already responsibly impounded the votes in the 3rd district to ensure the accuracy of the results, and the Koh campaign will be reviewing the process for a recount to ensure everyone who voted is properly counted. He is proud to have been part of a group of Democratic candidates in the 3rd who campaigned so hard to make a real difference in this country and if — at the end of this process — Lori is declared the winner, Dan will offer his enthusiastic support for her in the general election.”

Koh, 33, is of Korean and Lebanese descent. Before throwing his hat in District 3 race, Koh was the chief of staff of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and held the same position to Arianna Huffington, co-founder of the Huffington Post.

Whoever is declared a winner will face Republican Rick Green in the November election.

In Massachusett's Congressional District 8, Brianna Wu lost to Stephen Lynch in the Democrat primary.

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Candidate wants to be Massachusetts' first Asian American in Congress

Dan Koh and his parents.

DAN KOH could very well become the first Korean American member of Congress. He's running for the Third District Congressional seat in Massachusetts.

His big test is Sept. 4 when Massachusetts holds its primary. In the primary, Koh will be running for the seat against 12 other Democrats. 

The wide open contest is the result of the retirement of the Third District's long-time representtive, Congresswoman Niki Tsongas.

"In today’s political climate, I think it is really important that the Democratic Party and people who feel really strongly that the country needs to go in a different direction than the way this president is bringing us really need to step up and try to make change," said Koh to Next Shark.

"I feel responsible for fighting for that system for generations to come for both recent immigrants and people who have been in this country for a long time and now think the cards are stacked against them,." said Koh, who is of Lebanese and Korean descent.

Koh grew up in Andover, Mass. with his parents, and his brother and sister. Most recently, Dan served as Chief of Staff to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, where he managed 18,000 employees and a $3 billion budget during one of the most prosperous four-year stretches in Boston’s history. Previously, He also served as Chief of Staff at the Huffington Post. He also served as an advisor to Boston Mayor Tom Menino and as an intern for Senator Ted Kennedy.

Like so many first-time candidates, Koh was inspired to throw his hat in the ring because of the policies and actions of Donald Trump.

He promises to expand access to quality, affordable healthcare and fight for an economy where everyone can earn a living wage and has the opportunity to get ahead. 

Koh holds a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School, where he met his wife Amy. 

He'll be running against some pretty big names in Massachusetts politics, including: Rufus Gifford, the former U.S. ambassador to Denmark; state Sen. Barbara L’Italien; Lori Trahan, the former chief of staff of the district’s former Rep. Marty Meehan; Alexandra Chandler, a former Pentagon intelligence analyst; Steve Kerrigan, the former Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor.

In the Primary, he only needs to win the plurality of votes. The top vote-getter, even if he or she gets less than 50% of the vote, would run against the Republican candidate in November.

In 2015, Dan Koh proposed to his current wife, Amy, after running the Boston Marathon. Both are avid runners.

Other excerpts of the Next Shark interview touched on his ethnicity and how it impacts his candidacy and personal life:

How has your racial and ethnic background shaped your candidacy?  “My family came from two different parts of the world: Korea and Lebanon. They met in the United States, a country that was inclusive and welcoming to them, and were able to have the American Dream. Now, a Korean and Lebanese kid has a chance to be a Congressman. So, I take that very seriously. I hold the process that every person that comes to this country very close to my heart. It gives me a perspective on making sure that government creates an environment that people who have been here for many or a few generations know that the system is here to help them. I think that too often people feel like the system is rigged against them. ... 

“I grew up without a lot of Asian American role models in leadership — and that includes politics, business, and a number of different areas. That is a difficult thing for Asian Americans. From an academic perspective, Asian Americans have historically succeeded in many areas. But when you look at Fortune 500 companies or Congress or even if you look at any other areas of leadership, Asian Americans are severely underrepresented relative to their academic achievements. I think part of that is cultural but a lot of that is that Asian American families, especially parents who play a significant role in the lives of their kids, don’t see those role models there and then don’t see it as a viable path for their kids. The more Asian Americans in leadership, the more paths become viable for children who are aspiring to get involved in different sectors that aren’t typically those represented by Asian Americans. Certainly, that is something I care deeply about as an Asian American and someone who wants to see more people of color in leadership positions in general.”

Do you feel a part of a larger national movement of young people running for office?“I think young people and people of color, for a long time, have felt that they wanted to be more civically engaged and haven’t been. Especially after the 2016 election there is a real wave of people who are stepping up and are not being complacent. There is a lot of new blood that has entered the political sphere and that is really good for this country and is really exciting. More diversity in DC is always exciting and the more the better.”

Have you experienced racism and/or ageism along the campaign trail?“I think that people of color continue to face issues of racism. We are posting new ads and sometimes we get responses that are racially tinged. But that is a part of being in the public eye. I wish it weren’t happening but it’s a reminder that this exists and we have to fight against it every day. In the America that I believe in, we are an inclusive country of immigrants — that is something we have to protect and fight for. The more people see people of color in leadership positions, the rareness of it will go away, and the better we can do that.”

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Massachusetts considering disaggregated data for Asian Americans

Opponents of disaggregated data were more numerous at the Massachusetts hearing.

MASSACHUSETTS is considering disaggregating data on the Asian/American community to determine how to better address the needs of different Asian groups.

At a hearing Tuesday (Jan. 31) Quincy Rep. Tackey Chan explained his bill, H. 3361 to the Join Committee on State Regultion and Administrative Oversight. The bill seeks more specific ethnic information rather than simply categorize all people of Asian descent as “Asian-American.”

“We should be able to identify ourselves to you as who we are, as opposed to having other people identify for us,” said Chan.

Chan’s bill would require “all state agencies, quasi-state agencies, entities created by state statute and sub-divisions of state agencies” to “identify Asian American and Pacific Islanders as defined by the United States Census Bureau in all data collected” and to have individual data for “the five largest Asian American and Pacific Islander ethnic groups residing in the Commonwealth.”

In Massachusetts, that would mean individual boxes for Chinese/Americans, Vietnamese/Americans, Indian/Americans, Cambodian/Americans and Korean/Americans.

Supporters of the bill say disaggreagated data would allow more accurate data to better serve a variety of public health, social service, and educational goals for the distinct communities.

Opponents of the bill, who greatly outnumbered supporters at Tuesday’s hearing, say it is “essentially an attempt to legalize racial/origin profiling and enables discriminatory actions against a targeted people” and is “unconstitutional at its core, notwithstanding intended or unintended purposes.”

A group of opponents calling themselves the Coalition Against Profiling wrote in an online petition. “No White Americans, African Americans, European Americans, Latino Americans or Arabic Americans are asked to further identify themselves based on the regions or countries of their origin.”

The opponents said the bill is an attempt by the government to divide the Asian diaspora by continually asking, “Where are you really from?”

“This essentially labels them as perpetual foreigners in their own land,” the opponents wrote in their statement. “We need to stop any attempt to divide Americans to ‘Real Americans’ and Less Real Americans.’”

The bill's backers say the desire for disaggregated data collected by the state is overwhelmingly supported by the state’s Asian/Americans, by the organizations and agencies that serve them, and by prominent Asian American leaders.

“In the field of education we are continuously working to address achievement and opportunity gaps," noted Boston Teachers Union President Jessica Tang. 

"The model minority myth masks the needs of different groups and if we’re not looking at disaggregated data on an institutional level, we miss opportunities to address the needs of our students. Disaggregated data is also important in making sure that we have educators who reflect our student populations and are able to speak their language,” she said.

In testimony prepared for the hearing, Professor Paul Watanabe, Director of the Institute for Asian American Studies, states: 

“Given the extraordinary ethnic diversity within the Asian/American community the continued reliance at the state level of a single Asian/American designation often obscures critical differences. Data collected on specific major Asian/American subgroups means that distinctive tendencies and conditions can be identified leading to more appropriate, responsive, and knowledge-based services and policies…stronger, better understood and thus better-served Asian/American subgroups will mean a stronger, better-served Asian/American community as a whole.”

The Massachusetts Asian and Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network (APIs CAN!), a coalition of over 50 service organizations, cited why it supports Chan's bill in a statement:

• When attempting to understand Massachusetts Asian Americans as a conglomerate, the overall median household income would be $81,505, but disaggregated data accounts for the two largest Southeast Asian refugee communities in the Commonwealth with median household incomes of $56,895 and $57,290 for Vietnamese and Cambodians, respectively.
• When clumping all Asian/Americans together, 35% reported that they spoke English less than “very well,” whereas 61.2% of Vietnamese reported higher levels of limited English proficiency.
• The combined Asian/American family poverty rate in Massachusetts was found to be 8.4%, whereas disaggregated data specified poverty rates of 15.6% for Vietnamese families and 16.7%of Cambodian families.
• Educational attainment among Asian/American subgroups varies greatly, but without disaggregation of data, 57.5% of Asian/Americans in Massachusetts have a Bachelor’s or higher; data disaggregation puts these numbers at 25.9% and 14.9% for Vietnamese and Cambodians, respectively.

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