Judy Chu: Member of Congress

Member of Congress Judy Chu

Judy Chu: Member of Congress

Judy Chu was elected to Congress in 2009, in a special election to replace Hilda Soliz in California's 32nd Congressional district when Hilda Soliz was confirmed as President Obama's Secretary of Labor. She has subsequently been re-elected twice and currently serves as the representative from her redistricted area known as Congressional district 27. The daughter of immigrants, Judy Chu has lived in Los Angeles and the San Francisco area and has been involved in education and politics for most of her adult life. First elected a member of her local school board in 1985, she later became a member of the city council of Monterey Park California and was later elected to the office of Mayor for three terms. In 1994 and 1998 she ran for the California State Assembly but lost. Then in 2001, during a special election Judy Chu as elected to the State Assembly where she won re-election in 2002 and 2004. In 2006, unable to run again for the State Assembly, Chu was elected to the State Board of Equalization where she remained until 2009, when an opening for the U.S. Congress occurred. She then ran and was elected in a special election for the 32nd Congressional District, later redistricted into the 27th. It is her experience in academics that I believe really exemplifies her commitment to representing the people of California. Judy Chu has a B.A. In mathematics and a PhD in Psychology, was a member of the Garvey School District in Rosemead for a number of years as well as serving as a member of the faculty at the Los Angeles Community College District for two decades. One of her first acts as a Congresswoman was to obtain a $250,000 grant to repair the heating and air conditioning system at the Mark Keppel High School in her district. Her dedication to education is one of her most admirable qualities and has been a hallmark of her legislative career.

But education is not her only concern, being Asian-American and the daughter of immigrants, she has expanded her legislation into areas involving hate crimes and anti-bias laws, sponsored laws which help improved the prosecution of hate crimes, prohibit the spreading of hate pamphlets, and even created an anti-bias youth work program. Her Chinese background made it possible for her to involve herself in traditional Chinese medicine when she sponsored a bill to increase training for acupuncturists. And this is not all that she has accomplished for the people of California, she has also aided the handicapped and elderly by allowing them to use carpool lanes, as well as improved the efficiency of domestic violence courts and established sexual assault programs for her local colleges. Recently she supported the Affordable Care Act, known as ObamaCare, and was instrumental in the passage of this important piece of legislation.