By Kai Curry
Northwest Asian Weekly
State Sen. Joe Nguyen at work at the Washington State Legislative. (Credit: WA State Legislative Support Services)
It’s hard to believe it’s already been four years since a scrappy, youthful, and impassioned Joe Nguyen ran to represent the 34th District in Washington’s State Senate and triumphed. Since then, the nation has been embroiled in the pandemic, rising crime against Asian Americans, climate crisis, and international conflict. Meanwhile, re-election is coming up, and Nguyen won a commendable 83% of votes in the August primary against his competitors, one of whom happened to be the owner of the same coffee shop where the Weekly first interviewed him.
Nguyen is a little older, a little wiser, or call it jaded. The determined set of his jaw remains, but the character of it has slightly changed.
It’s now the character of a person that has come up against obstacles, and learned how to get around them.
“The frustrating thing for me is that if it was just let’s do the right thing all the time and prioritize all the people that need prioritizing, but that’s not necessarily the case.” Nguyen recognizes that when he entered the political scene, he was a purist. He had dreams and the will to reach them, but the ins and outs of the structure stood in the way.
“There are dynamics within the political system that you have to be mindful of. I saw myself hitting a ceiling…I was fighting for certain things that wouldn’t necessarily be popular, even though they were right. I would hit a wall…and I’d wonder why I’d hit that wall.”
No one tells you what to do in this environment where personality and power can be paramount.
“You had to sometimes figure it out and say, well, what’s more important? Ensuring that our community gets access to the funding and the basic needs that they have? Or my ego?”
The dreams remain. What Nguyen focuses on now is turning those dreams into outcomes. How can he get results for his community?
Outcomes he has sought so far include Bill 6478, which affects families in the WorkFirst and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs, and helps alleviate homelessness; or 5126, the Climate Commitment Act, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Each victory will require compromise, which often perplexes the public.
“Folks feel frustrated…that’s mainly because we’re pushing for progress. Progress requires frustration and tension. It requires change…You have to make that determination around, we may not be able to get 100% of what we want, but we could get 80%…Climate policy is probably one of the major ones. How stringent should the lengths be?”
Nguyen acknowledges there are more ideal options, but to gain those, some other important element might be sacrificed, as in, “Do I pass the building standards bill that was the most stringent in the country but didn’t have the rent control piece?” So you work on getting a little bit of both.
Right now, with a Democratic majority in Olympia, Nguyen has support, not only in his party but also with Republicans.
“84% of the bills that we passed last year were bipartisan,” he points out. He is proud of the increase of “elected leaders who reflect the districts they serve. It’s not an accident…it’s not just me. That’s always been the goal.” Together with this new contingent of fired up, diverse elected officials (think Toshiko Grace Hasegawa, Sam Cho, or Girmay Zahilay), Nguyen has shown that it is possible to get things done.
“I fundamentally believe that if we have the right leaders in the right place, we can transform our entire political system…you can create a lot of positive change if you work at it.” Nguyen recalls one piece of advice he was given when he first campaigned: “You can get a lot done if you don’t care about getting re-elected and if you don’t care about getting credit.”
That’s why, for him, if re-elected, it’s going to be important to keep an eye on the implementation of changes already made, which means a lot of work behind the scenes.
“One of my main focuses is going to be ensuring that the money that we invested, the programs that we’ve put in place, the policies that we’ve passed, actually get implemented and benefit the people who we expect to benefit…We need leaders who are willing to do the work that nobody notices. Nobody is going to notice that my office will help people implement a program well. It’s just going to be done well…A lot of the work that I’ll do will have a significant impact on our communities, but likely won’t make headlines just because I want to make the government better. I want to make sure that the government is serving people.”
Which is not to say that Nguyen doesn’t make headlines. Last year, he stirred up a fuss by challenging incumbent Dow Constantine to the position of King County Executive. Such a bold move, when Nguyen was not even through his first term as state senator, was not expected nor approved by those accustomed to the political machine behaving a certain way. For Nguyen, the King County race was almost more about what he could prove than winning. It was about “showing that you don’t have to be beholden to the political establishment in order to be successful…I wanted to give hope to people who were not part of the political process.” Specifically, “people from marginalized communities, people of color, women.” And he did well, coming in at about 45% in a race where the incumbent spent the most money for that seat’s campaign in history: $3.2 million. “They were scared,” Nguyen notes.
“It’s been incredibly difficult,” Nguyen admits of the past four years. Due to his commitments in the senate, he has given up his prior position at Microsoft. He remains dedicated to the fight for the rights and recognition of what Joan Didion once called “the invisible city,” the underrepresented. Just like in the legislature, in his private life, Nguyen has to “balance and prioritize. There will be times when I’ll miss family events…there will be times when I’ll miss an important meeting…there’s a tremendous amount of need in the community.” He is heartened by the number of long-standing lawmakers who have learned from his example, and that of other, newer officials, that reform can happen if you do the work.
“There are a lot of folks who have been there for some time that maybe even themselves didn’t think that it was possible.” The tone is changing, he says. “I think that paradigm shift is about to happen.”
When asked why he should be re-elected to represent the 34th, Nguyen’s answer is as assertive as it ever was: “You don’t make change by just sitting back and saying, yeah, everything is fine…It boils down to I’m here and I show up…I’ve wanted to show folks that there’s a better path…That there is value in fighting for things that we believe in, even if it’s going to cost you in consequences when it comes to the political side. That’s why I’m here.”
Kai can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.