Rep. Judy Chu (D)

The new congresswoman from the 32nd District is Democrat Judy Chu. In this left-leaning district, Chu won a competitive Democratic primary in May 2009, and then cruised to an easy win in the July 2009 special election to succeed Democrat Hilda Solis, who became President Obama’s new secretary of Labor. Chu is the second Chinese-American member of the House, after Rep. David Wu, an Oregon Democrat, and the first Chinese-American woman. She graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles, got a Ph.D. in psychology, and then taught for 13 years at East Los Angeles Community College. She served on the Garvey School District board for three years and was mayor of Monterey Park for 12 years. In 2000, she was elected to the California Assembly, where Chu focused on criminal justice and environmental protection issues. As the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, she sponsored a tax amnesty program that brought in significant sums for the state. In 2006, she was elected to the state Board of Equalization, where she worked on closing tax loopholes.

After Solis’ Cabinet appointment, the contest for the Democratic nomination quickly settled into a contest between Chu and state Sen. Gil Cedillo. He was the leading Hispanic candidate after state Sen. Gloria Romero decided to focus on her 2010 bid for state schools superintendent. Although many observers viewed the election as an ethnic showdown between an Asian and a Latino, the race actually was more nuanced. Chu gained the endorsement of much of the Democratic establishment and the state party, including some prominent Hispanics, such as Los Angles Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa and members of Solis’s family. The Los Angeles County Labor Federation, which was impressed by Chu’s support for farm workers, supported her, as did EMILY’s List, the national advocacy group for pro-abortion rights Democratic women.

Cedillo attracted negative media coverage for spending more than $120,000 in campaign funds for personal travel and shopping. Cedillo maintained that he did nothing illegal, but Chu used the news stories to contrast with her more modest life style. His decade in the Legislature proved to be less of an asset than expected, given that the Democratic primary was held on the same day that voters overwhelmingly defeated five state referenda on controversial tax and spending policies. A third candidate was also an Hispanic and siphoned support from likely Cedillo voters: political novice Emanuel Pleitez, a 26-year-old financial analyst who had worked on Obama’s presidential campaign and used Internet strategies for fundraising and voter mobilization. In the pre-primary spending report, Chu had raised nearly $1 million, Cedillo more than $700,000, and Pleitez $200,000.

The May 19 primary drew fewer than 50,000 voters. Chu won with 32%, to 23% for Cedillo and 14% for Pleitez. Because she failed to receive a majority of the total primary vote, she faced a runoff with Republican Betty Chu, a Monterey Park councilwoman who is Chu’s distant cousin by marriage. Little known by most district voters, Betty Chu got 10% of the vote in the primary, edging out Republican-endorsed Teresa Hernandez who got 9%. Hispanic groups lamented the likely loss of a seat in the House. Turnout in the July 14 general election was even lighter than in the primary, attracting only 26,000 voters. Judy Chu easily bested Betty Chu by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio, 62% to 33%.