API candidates on the ballot

Compiled by Staff
Northwest Asian Weekly

This year, election day for the primary election is on Aug. 1. Voters have until 8 p.m. that day to return their ballots or have them postmarked. A primary election is an election that narrows down the field of candidates before the general election in November.

The following are candidates of Asian and/or Pacific Islander heritage in state races and also in King County races.

Note: Northwest Asian Weekly does not endorse any candidate during the primary election.

STATE

Legislative District 45, State Senator

Manka Dhingra (Prefers Democratic Party) — A King County prosecutor since 2000, Dhingra supports women’s and immigrant’s rights through her work on the Seattle Police Department’s Muslim, Arab, and Sikh Advisory Council.

She co-founded API Chaya, an organization that works to end domestic violence in the South Asian community.

Jinyoung Lee Englund (Prefers Republican Party) — Englund is both the daughter of immigrants and a second-generation military spouse and entrepreneur. She has 10 years technology and public policy experience solving problems: securing funding for an NGO providing clean water in Africa; serving constituents in Congress; educating the public, government and law enforcement on Bitcoin and Blockchain; and Product Manager and Advisor on Technology and Innovation for U.S. Marine Corps.

Legislative District 48, Representative Position 1

Vandana Slatter (Prefers Democrat Party) — Slatter is a former Bellevue City Councilmember, community leader, public school parent, and biotech and healthcare professional.

On the Advisory Boards of local non-profits, Global Social Business Partners (GSBP) and Farmer Frog, she helped establish a Lake Hills Greenbelt urban farm with a social business focus where healthy organic produce can be provided to low-income households at an affordable cost.

In 2017, she was appointed as the State House Representative for the 48th Legislative District.

PORT OF SEATTLE

Commissioner Position 1

Bea Querido-Rico — Querido-Rico’s approach to problem solving comes from more than 12 years working in aerospace and transportation. She started in started out in Network & Space at The Boeing Company and adopted by the 787.
She is a nonprofit senior leader, currently serving as a Board Member for the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO)

Commissioner Position 4

Preeti Shridhar — Shridhar grew up in India, the only daughter of a business executive and a college professor. She came to the United States in 1986. In 1993, she helped the City of Seattle introduce water conservation and recycling programs. In the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Environment, she also helped to launch Seattle’s Climate Protection Initiative, that led to the national U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. She currently works for the City of Renton.

CITY

City of Federal Way, council position 4

Hoang Tran — At the age of 18, Tran fled from Vietnam, and immigrated to the United States in 1980. Tran worked multiple jobs to support himself through college, earning a college degree and becoming a U.S. citizen in 1985.

Tran currently serves as an administrator in the state’s Department of Social and Health Services. In 2009, Tran was awarded the Governor’s award for Leadership in Management for his leadership and his commitment to excellence as a public servant. Tran graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in Psychology. He’s a Juris Doctor student of Northwestern California University School of Law. ​

City of Kent, council position 2

Satwinder Kaur — A former City of Kent employee, Kaur worked as an executive assistant with the City Council in 2012 and 2013. Kaur graduated from Kentridge High School in 2004, earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Central Washington University, and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Washington.

Elizabeth T. Peang — Peang is the parent of three school-aged children in Kent and is a social worker by vocation and a community outreach advocate. Peang graduated from California State University Stanislaus with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Public Administration.

City of Kirkland, council position 7

Uzma Butte — Butte is an educator, small business owner, and the founder of a Montessori School. Her affiliations include Kirkland Downtown Rotary Club, Eastshore Unitarian Universalists, ACLU People Power, and Indivisible. She graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.

Imran Peerbhai — His family immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. He has worked at Microsoft, and graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and earned a certificate in Econometrics. He’s also a member of the Omicron Delta Epsilon Honor Society. Currently, Peerbhai runs a small artificial intelligence company, where they have built a voice assistant for elder care.

City of Mercer Island, council position 6

Benson D. Wong — Wong was elected onto the Mercer Island City Council in November 2013. He was born and raised in Seattle. Benson has an undergraduate degree from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a senior partner at the Seattle law firm of Keller Rohrback L.L.P. Benson has served on the boards of the Mercer Island Schools Foundation and Mercer Island Community Fund.

City of Sammamish, council position 3

Minal Kode Ghassemieh — Ghassemieh is an immigration attorney and board chair at API Chaya. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington School of Business and her Juris Doctorate from Gonzaga University. She has practiced immigration law for 8 years focusing her practice on employment and family-based immigration. Ghassemieh is also a pro-bono attorney for Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, where she assists refugees and other individuals in need of immigration assistance.

City of Sammamish, council position 5

Ryika Hooshangi — For over 10 years, Hooshangi worked as an attorney at the U.S. Department of State, counseling U.S. embassies on international agreements, immigration law, and policy, with expertise in diplomatic policy, trade, and business immigration issues. Since moving back to Sammamish, she has been on the Board of Directors of the Borgen Project, a Seattle-based nonprofit working on ending global poverty, and currently serves as the chairman of the board.

Rituja Indapure — Initially trained as a lawyer, Indapure currently works at Costco as a senior analyst. She has worked as a software engineer with local high tech companies, lived in Washington state for almost 20 years, and has been a Klahanie resident for the past 15 years.

With Amrita Seattle (Teen Feed program), she volunteers to support homeless youth and with the nonprofit Tasveer, she works to promote arts and culture throughout King County — particularly in underrepresented and diverse communities.

City of Seattle, mayor

Bob Hasegawa — Hasegawa, 64, is a third generation Seattleite and lifelong resident of the Beacon Hill neighborhood. He represents the 11th Legislative District as a sitting Washington State Senator and he was the first ever Asian American Secretary–Treasurer of Teamsters Local 174, the largest trucking industry workers’ union in the Pacific Northwest. As mayor, Hasegawa said he will bring his lifelong track record of accountability, transparency, and sense of equity.

City of Shoreline, council position 5

Susan Chang — Chang is a licensed civil engineer and was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Washington State University in Pullman.
Chang currently serves on the City of Shoreline Planning Commission. She has a B.S. in Civil Engineering, an M.S. in Geotechnical Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, all from UC Berkeley.

SCHOOL

Mercer Island School District 400, director position 4

Linhui Hao — Hao has a doctorate in molecular biology and virology from Ohio State University and has worked at University of Wisconsin, Madison as a research scientist. Since moving to Seattle area last year, she has been an independent consultant.

Hao spends a large portion of her time volunteering in school classrooms, libraries, and engaging in Chinese community activities and with the Mercer Island School Foundation. She is currently serving as board member and secretary of Mercer Island Chinese Association.

Seattle School District 1, director district 7

Betty Patu — Patu retired after 32 years of successfully directing educational programs recognized to increase graduation rates, college-bound students and reduced gang violence. She was responsible for having the highest number of South Pacific Islander students graduate from public school in any one year.

Patu has served as Seattle School Board Director of district 7 for two terms.

If there are any API candidates we have missed, please let us know at editor@nwasianweekly.com.