Move over veteran California legislators, Alex Lee, who just became California’s youngest state assemblymember to be elected in 80 years, is promising to make some pretty big changes once he starts his term.
Lee is 25 years old and just won the race for the 25th State Assembly District which includes Newark, Fremont, and parts of the South Bay. Lee beat Republican Bob Brunton in a landslide victory.
According to the California Secretary of State’s Office, Lee picked up a whopping 73% of the vote. Lee says he was an underdog in the race just a few months back in June. He will soon take over for Rep. Kansen Chu who has held the District 25 seat since 2014.
Lee will not only be the youngest lawmaker at the state capitol, but he will also the first Gen-Z state lawmaker, the youngest ever Asian-American in the state legislature, and the first openly bisexual lawmaker in state history.
San Jose Inside reports, Lee still lives with his mother in San Jose and had to find jobs as a gig worker in order to make ends meet during his campaign.
“I am also proud to have this interesting distinction of neither being a renter or a landowner but one who lives with their family, which is actually a lot of people in this state. I have a lot of identities that intersect and I think it informs me to be very mindful and a strong advocate for the working class, the marginalized, people of color because I experienced different discriminations based on whatever is my perceived identity by someone at the time,” Lee told KRON 4.
Lee also says he plans to get right to work once he is sworn in to his new office. On his campaign website, he says his top priorities will be housing and corporate donations in politics.
“When it comes to legislative priorities, my first priority on day one in office when I am sworn in, I attend to introduce a bill to vastly curve the influence of corporate money in politics. Personally, I am a corporate-free candidate meaning I don’t take any money from corporations and I pledge and commit to never doing that in my political career. I believe that should be the case for all of California,” Lee also commented to KRON 4.
Lee graduated from and was elected student body prescient at UC Davis after previously graduating from Milpitas High School.
According to San Jose Inside, Lee got right into politics after college working for State Senator Henry Stern and State Assemblyman Evan Low.
Lee will be officially sworn in at the state capitol on December 7th.
