2020: General Election
Service
Is Andy Kim andykimforcongress.com a regular guy, a ball player? His old website recalled him hitting a New Jersey recreation league home run. The story is gone from the website. There is a picture of him as a boy holding a baseball bat,not quite ready to take a swing. Not exactly comfortable as a regular guy.
He’s more impressive than a regular guy. His bio recalls his Korean born parents and his commitment to service. Every bit of his life reflects his parents’ expectations and his commitment to service.
Andy Kim’s toughness and his family’s toughness stand out. His father was an orphan and a polio victim living on the streets in South Korea. His mother was almost as poor — from a failed farm community devastated by famine.
In the US, his dad earned a PhD and became a scientist. His mother became a nurse. They remind us of what the United States means to immigrants and what immigrants mean to the US. Students of education know about the diligence and discipline that characterize the South Korean approach to education. In New Jersey, the Kims expected diligence and discipline of Andy. He responded with very high achievement and unusual choices.
Andy Kim‘s first two years of post-secondary education were at tuition-free Deep Springs College in California. Isolated between two mountain ranges, the 30 students at Deep Springs were all male. Demanding academically, students also work 20 hours per week on the cattle and alfalfa farm. Student life is self-governing. The college’s goal is self-sufficiency. Most Deep Springs students go on to competitive four year schools. Andy Kim went to The University of Chicago.
Please forgive the stereotypical thinking. Andy Kim‘s training and career makes me think of a Confucian scholar training to serve an emperor– with a touch of American rugged individualism thrown in. He seemed to prepare for a high level civil servant position. He readied himself for the role through academic success. He earned a Truman scholarship based on his two years a Chicago. He went to Oxford, earned a MPhil, a Rhodes scholarship, and a PhD.
There was nothing effete about his idea of civil service. He was an aide to generals — Patraeus and Allen in Afghanistan. In Washington, he was the Iraq Country Director for the State Department and Director for Iraq at the National Security Council.
The election of Donald Trump shocked him into political action. He tried national organizing, then decided to run for Congress. When I initially wrote about Andy Kim’s campaign for Congress, I said that, even though he “wasn’t in the military, he would fit right in with the many Democratic candidates with a military background who were running in 2018.
There he is. On the Armed Services Committee. Of the sixteen Democrats on this committee, eleven were first elected in 2018. He is on the committee with Jason Crow and Jared Golden of CO and ME respectively both of whom served in Iraq and Afghanistan. With three women from the military — Air Force vet Chrissy Houlahan of PA, Elaine Luria of VA who was Commander of an Assault Craft Unit, and Mikie Sherrill of NJ who was a naval helicopter pilot. With Conor Lamb for PA, who was a JAG prosecutor.With another civilian who had deep connections to national defense — Elaine Slotkin of MI whose career was in the CIA.
The House Armed Services Committee is sometimes described as highly coveted. I’m skeptical. Highly coveted by first year Members of Congress, maybe. With these freshmen whose experience in national defense is recent and impressive, the committee could prove to be important.
Andy Kim andykimforcongress.com is bright, diligent, disciplined, knowledgeable. He could be a real figure in the US Congress. If that is going to happen, he has to be reelected. He won in 2018by less than 4,000 votes. He is more than a little vulnerable in 2020. Republican PACs are already spending money to oppose him in this district that stretches across southern Jersey from Trenton to Tom’s River.
The Republicans have headwinds. According to Daily Kos, one potential opponent has announced she was joining the Democrats. A County Republican Chair good at recruiting candidates has something else to do. He will go on trial for evading a million dollars of taxes and filing false tax returns. Nevertheless, 4,000 votes is enough in a Congressional race. Do a little to help Andy Kim get reelected. Consider a monthly donation. Even $3 a month between now and November 2020 amounts to something.
Those who need our help now for 2020.
Doug Jones – AL Senator – won by 21,924 of 1,348,720 votes
Ben McAdams – UT 04 – won by 694 votes of 269,271 votes
TJ Cox – CA 21 – won by 862 votes of 113,616 votes
Lucy McBath – GA 06 – won by 3,264 votes of 317, 032 votes
Kendra Horn – OK 05 – won by 3,298 votes of 238,738 votes
Andy Kim – NJ 03 – won by 3,973 votes of 306.875 votes
