By Jason Cruz
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Washington State Sen. Joe Nguyen is moving from the legislative branch to the executive branch. Governor-elect Bob Ferguson has picked him to become the next executive director of Commerce for Washington state.
“It’s just an honor to be considered,” Nguyen humbly stated. He indicated it was “relatively recent” that he was contacted by the Ferguson transition team about his potential interest in the position.
“Governor-elect Ferguson and I are good friends,” said the 41-year old Nguyen. “We have done policy work and campaign events together.”
Nguyen replaces Mike Fong who worked with the Inslee administration and is now moving on to become the executive director of Economic Development for Snohomish County.
Nguyen is the current state senator representing the 34th legislative district of White Center and currently chairs the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology committee. He is also vice chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, a position he was elected to by his Senate colleagues.
Joe Nguyen at the Washington State Senate in April 2023
He believes that his experience in the tech and business sectors, coupled with his legislative experience, suitably prepared him for work with the Department of Commerce. The agency works on community and economic development including planning, infrastructure, energy, housing, business services, and more. Similar to his predecessor, he would oversee funding of projects and ensure that funds are distributed fairly and equally.
Nguyen believes this position will show other Asians to aspire to do more.
“As an Asian person, there is a fallacy of being too competent at your job,” explained Nguyen. He believes the stereotype is that Asians are happy and will accept the same job and are therefore “kept in the same spots,” prohibiting promotion. He believes in breaking the perceived “bamboo ceiling.”
Nguyen has always been involved in government. He served as class president while at Kennedy Catholic in Burien and was student body president for two years at Seattle University.
“I actually don’t know,” said Nguyen of his involvement in student government. “It was always important to be of service to others. The public sector and government were a unique realm where you could add value.”
“I saw how the government could do a lot of good, but also could do a lot of harm and I believe I could be in a position to help.”
Prior to his political career, he worked at various positions in the tech sector which included a stop at Microsoft.
“When I was at Microsoft, it was the first time in my life that I had time to volunteer in the community.” Dedicating his time to volunteering reinvigorated his motivation to work in government. “I was mad. I saw how the government wasn’t working for communities.” He believed he could help make it better. “The more involved I got, I realized it was not working out for people.”
Growing up in a low-income, single parent home, Nguyen believed that he could do something to help underrepresented communities and fight for the rights of the poor. He ran for state senate in 2018 based on a platform of affordable housing, healthcare for all, and education reform.
He won his seat in 2018 and became one of the first two Vietnamese American legislators to be elected to the Washington State Legislature.
While working as a legislature, Nguyen sponsored bills on supporting marginalized communities. This includes legislation to expand access to TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), which included ending a 60-month limit for TANF recipients who are without stable housing and requiring DSHS to report data identifying the race of those whose TANF benefits were reduced or terminated in the last year due to the time limits or sanctions. In 2019, he championed a law to vacate marijuana convictions as part of a broader effort for criminal justice reform. Nguyen also sponsored a bill that was signed into law to certify Washington as a Zero Emissions Vehicle state and promote cleaner air and more renewable transportation.
Jason can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.