Check out the website: https://lenspoliticalnotes.com  Look at the recent Political Notes and Len’s Letters on the website.  

NORTHEAST: Political Note #363 Tom Malinowski NJ 07, Political Note #394 Susan Wild PA 07, Political Note #397 Eugene DePasquale PA 10

SOUTHEAST: Political Note #385 Carolyn Bordeaux, Political Note #388 Elaine Luria VA 02

MIDWEST: Political Note # 398 David Palmer IL 13, Political Note #376 Lauren Underwood IL 14, Political Note #378 Elissa Slotkin MI 08, Political Note #357 Haley Stevens MI 11, Political Note #355 Angie Craig MN 02 

 SOUTHWEST: Political Note #389 Tom O’Halleran AZ 01, Political Note #356 Susie Lee NV 03, Political Note #375 Steven Horsford NV 04, Political Note #377 Lizzie Fletcher TX 07, Political Note #362 Vicente Gonzalez TX 15, Political Note #399 Colin Allred TX 32

 WEST: Political Note #403 Jay Chen CA 39, Political Note #383 Harley Rouda CA 48, Political Note #404 Kerry Donovan CO 03,  Political Note #384 Peter DeFazio OR 04

 SPECIAL ELECTIONS:  Political Note #382 Melanie Stansbury NM 01 (won), Political Note #393 Allison Russo OH 15 (Election is in November, 2021) Political Note #364 Jana Lynne Sanchez TX 06 (lost),

August 17, 2021           Political Note #405 Jay Chen CA 39

2022                              General Election

Can you be earnest, deferential, and ambitious?  Jay Chen https://chenforcongress.com can.  He grew up in Hacienda Heights, a suburb southeast of Los Angeles that is part of California’s 39th Congressional District.  He went to the local high school and got good enough grades to get into Harvard on an ROTC scholarship.  While at Harvard, he took some time to attend the Universidad de Costa Rica and returned with a Certificate in Spanish.  He also worked for the “Let’s Go” travel series writing about Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala. He did the same, in 2001, after graduating, writing about Bolivia and Chile.   Having won a Harvard-Yenching Fellowship he went to China and studied Mandarin Chinese.

For two years, Jay Chen attended what you might call a graduate school.  He worked for Bain & Company consulting on merger integration and new product development.  Having learned a little bit, he volunteered in Honduras helping a cacao plantation reposition its business to provide nibs for high end chocolate producers.

In the US Navy Reserve, Jay Chen eventually achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander.  He served in the Defense Intelligence Agency with the Naval Forces in Korea and later in the Joint Task Force in Kuwait that was focused on defeating ISIS.

A Harvard BA, fluent in Spanish, and, more or less, experienced in the corporate world, a naval reservist, and not far from where he grew up, in 2010, Jay Chen was appointed President of La Puente Valley Regional Occupational Program – a collaboration among school districts and local businesses.  Students largely paid through loans from the federal government. Like many of these programs, the average salary for graduates upon completion was less than $24,000 per year.  Did he look for and find a graceful was to leave that job?

In 2012, Jay Chen ran for an open redistricted, but Republican seat against Ed Royce, a long-term Member of Congress (10 years representing the 39th, after redistricting – 10 more years representing the 40th, after redistricting again he was running for his old seat).  Royce won convincingly and stayed until he retired to join a law firm.

Jay Chen took on a series of public service roles – as a Member of the School Board for Hacienda La Puente where he had grown up and graduated from high school, as Commissioner of the California Student Opportunity Access Program which provides information to students about post-secondary opportunities and financial aid, as a County Commissioner of the Los Angeles Public Library System, and as President of the Board of Trustees of the Mt San Antonio College.

When Ed Royce retired, he was replaced by Democrat Gil Cisneros. Jay Chen began a run in 2018, but withdrew to ensure that a Democrat reached the run-off stage in California’s multiparty primary.  A multimillionaire as a result of winning the California lottery, Cisneros defeated Young Kim 52-48 in 2018, but lost to her 51-49 in 2020.  Cisneros has accepted a position in the Biden administration and will not run again.

The district, in its current form, is balanced ethnically — 33% Hispanic, 32% While, and 30% Asian.  Young Kim, who is of Korean descent, has a primary opponent.  No Democrat has shown an interest in challenging Jay Chen, whose family immigrated from Taiwan.

Young Kim is a moderate by current Republican standards.  Along with all other Republicans, she voted against the American Rescue Plan Act.  She voted against the Equality and Fair Housing Act’s new protections claiming that it undermined religious freedom. She voted against impeaching President Trump, arguing that he should be censured.   She was one of the eleven Republicans who voted to strip QAnon advocate Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments.  And she was one of the few Republicans who voted to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.

Jay Chen https://chenforcongress.com will be competitive financially.  He raised nearly a half million dollars in the first quarter of 2021 and a million dollars in the second quarter.  The incumbent raised a million dollars in the first quarter of 2021 and a million in the second quarter.  This is going to be an expensive campaign.  Donate something now because early money is really helpful.  Donate more later because every dollar will count in this race.

The following are candidates working to flip Republican seats

California 39            Jay Chen https://chenforcongress.com

California 48             Harley Rouda https://harleyforcongress.com

Colorado 03             Kerry Donovan https://kerrydonovanforcongress.com

Illinois 13                  David Palmer. https://palmerforillinois.com

Ohio 15                     Allison Russo https://allisonrusso.co (Special election November, 2021.)

Pennsylvania 10     Eugene DePasquale https://eugeneforcongress.com

Below are vulnerable incumbent Democratic Members of Congress.  If you want to play some defense, choose a few of them to support.  If you want to learn about them, check out my Notes about them in the website. 

Members of Congress who won with less than 52% of the vote

Georgia 07   Carolyn Bordeaux https://www.carolyn4congress.com  Received 51.39% of the vote in 2020

Iowa 03          Cynthia Axne  https://cindyaxneforcongress.com  Received 48.9% of the vote in 2020

Illinois 14      Lauren Underwood https://underwoodforcongress.com Received 50.67% of the vote in 2020

Michigan 08 Elissa Slotkin https://elissaforcongress.com Received 50.88% of the vote in 2020

Michigan 11 Haley Stevens https://haleystevensforcongress.com  Received 50.2% of the vote in 2020

Minnesota 02 Angie Craig https://angiecraig.com Received 48.21% of the vote in 2020

Nevada 03 Susie Lee https://www.susieleeforcongress.com Received 48.75% of the vote in 2020

Nevada 04 Steve Horsford https://www.stevenhorsford.com Received 50.67% of the vote in 2020

New Mexico 01 Tom O’Halloran https://www.tomohalleran.com  Received 51.61% of the vote in 2020

New Jersey 07 Tom Malinowski https://malinowskifornj.com Received 50.61% of the vote in 2020

Oregon 04    Peter DeFazio https://www.defazioforcongress.org  Received 51.26% of the vote in 2020

Texas 07 Lizzie Fletcher https://www.lizziefletcher.com Received 50.79% of the vote in 2020

Texas 15 Vicente Gonzalez http://www.vicentegonzalez.com Received 50.5% of the vote in 2020

Texas 32 Colin Allred https://www.colinallred.com  Received 51.95% of the vote in 2020

Virginia 02 Elaine Luria https://elaineforcongress.com Received 51.6% of the vote in 2020

Washington 08 Kim Schrier https://www.drkimschrier.com Received 51.79% of the vote in 2020

Organizations to support

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) https://dccc.org

The Democratic National Committee (DNC).   https://democrats.org  The official organization of the Democratic Party.

Fair Fight https://fairfight.com Promotes fair elections around the country

Three Cautions while donating through Act Blue (most Democratic candidates use Act Blue for online donations)

  1. Take care to hit the donate button only once. If you hit it a second time, you could be charged for two donations instead of one.
  2. Take care to watch for an already clicked recurring donation. You can unclick it and donate only once if that is your intent.
  3. Watch for your receipt. If the receipt indicates a donation different from your intention, reply to Act Blue via the receipt right away.  They will fix your donation.  They want you to donate only what you intend to donate.

Support Democrats.  Sadly, Republicans have become enemies of democracyAnd enemies of the public’s health.