Joseph-Thanh Nguyen was born on September 27,1983 and is an American politician who is a former member of the Washington State Senate from the 34th district.
21 Facts About Joe Nguyen
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Joe Nguyen was a candidate for King County Executive in 2021 but was defeated by Dow Constantine 55 percent to 44 percent.
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Joe Nguyen was born in Seattle, Washington, as one of four children to a pair of Vietnamese immigrants who arrived in the United States as refugees.
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Joe Nguyen's family lived in public housing and relied on social services, particularly after his father became a quadriplegic in an accident.
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Joe Nguyen's mother worked as a seamstress, while Nguyen himself worked at his own high school as a janitor.
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Joe Nguyen graduated from John F Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien after serving as class president for three years.
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Joe Nguyen attended Seattle University and served as student body president for two years before graduating with Bachelor of Arts degrees in finance and humanities with a minor in economics.
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Joe Nguyen worked as a senior strategist for Expedia and is a senior program manager at Microsoft with an emphasis on strategy and analytics.
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Joe Nguyen has been involved in the company's charitable education program.
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Joe Nguyen chaired the Associate Board of Wellspring Family Services, a nonprofit organization for homeless services.
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Joe Nguyen served on the King County Community Advisory Committee on Law Enforcement Oversight, which included criticism of the King County Sheriff's handling of the shooting of Tommy Le in June 2017.
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Joe Nguyen announced his candidacy for the 34th district senate seat in May 2018, shortly after incumbent Sharon Nelson decided to retire at the end of her term.
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Joe Nguyen aimed to increase the representation of people of color in government and "for people here to realize they have the power, the authority, to actually make positive change", launching a podcast series to attract other potential candidates.
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Joe Nguyen finished at the top of the primary with 31 percent of the vote, ahead of ten other candidates, and advanced to the general election alongside Shannon Braddock, a staffer to King County Executive Dow Constantine.
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Joe Nguyen, running as a Democrat, campaigned on a platform that focused on housing affordability, healthcare for all, public transit improvements, environmental protections, and education reform.
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Joe Nguyen received the endorsements of congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, several Seattle and Burien council members, various local unions, and The Stranger.
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Joe Nguyen's campaign declined to use PAC funding, raising half as much as Braddock's campaign.
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Joe Nguyen won the general election on November 6,2018, defeating Braddock with 58 percent of the vote.
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Joe Nguyen became one of the first two Vietnamese American legislators to be elected to the Washington State Legislature, alongside My-Linh Thai from the 41st district.
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In March 2020, Joe Nguyen sponsored, and the legislature passed, a bill curtailing the use of facial recognition by the government and required government agencies to report facial recognition usage.
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Joe Nguyen is married to Tallie Joe Nguyen, a special education teacher at the Highline Public Schools.