The Associated Press projected Tuesday that Democrat Dan Koh would defeat Republican Micah Q. Jones in Massachusetts’ Sixth Congressional District, making Koh the first Asian American elected to represent Massachusetts in Congress. The projection is a state-level milestone; it is not the first time an Asian Pacific American has served in Congress.
A Massachusetts milestone in a longer history
The U.S. House Office of the Historian dates the first Asian Pacific American service in Congress to 1900, when Hawaii Delegate Robert M. Wilcox took office. In 1956, California’s Dalip Saund became the first Asian Pacific American elected to Congress with full voting rights, the Historian records. Its count of 75 people who have served since 1900 includes representatives, delegates, resident commissioners and senators.
The Massachusetts House has its own earlier milestones: the Massachusetts House Asian Caucus says Tackey Chan, Donald Wong and Paul Schmid were elected to the state House in 2010 and became the caucus’s founding members. Those state legislative milestones concern a different office from Koh’s projected election to the U.S. House.
The district and the path to the seat
The Sixth District covers most of Essex County on the North Shore and parts of Middlesex County. It was Massachusetts’ only open congressional seat on Tuesday’s ballot. With 16 percent of ballots counted, Koh had more than 60 percent, according to The Boston Globe. If the projection holds, he will succeed outgoing U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton when he enters Congress in January.
The projected win follows an earlier close loss: Koh was defeated by Lori Trahan by 145 votes after a recount in the 2018 Democratic primary for the neighboring Third District. He later won 41 percent in a five-candidate Democratic primary in September, according to MassLive, before facing Jones in the general election.
From Boston City Hall to Congress
Koh’s career spans local and federal government. After interning for Senator Edward M. Kennedy and working under Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, he became chief of staff to Mayor Martin J. Walsh in 2014. When Walsh became U.S. labor secretary, Koh joined him in Washington and later served as a White House liaison to cabinet members for President Joe Biden, WBUR reported. Koh, a descendant of Lebanese and Korean immigrants, attended Phillips Academy Andover and earned two degrees from Harvard.
On policy, Koh has backed a version of Medicare for All and supported abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He has also criticized the Trump administration’s handling of conflicts in the Middle East, including its response to suffering in Gaza, according to the Globe’s campaign coverage. The election projection establishes a potential first for Massachusetts representation in Congress; it does not, by itself, explain what drove voters’ choices.
