Senator Bob Hertzberg Endorses Kang for Senate

Will Be a “Mature, Thoughtful, Independent-Minded” Legislator

SACRAMENTO – Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a former speaker of the Assembly and chair of the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance, today endorsed Sukhee Kang in the open 29th Senate District, comprisingparts of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

“Sukhee Kang will bring a large amount of life experience, private-sector experience and governmental experience to the state Senate,” Hertzberg said. “He will be a mature, thoughtful, independent-minded legislator who will be able to work across the aisle to get things done for his district. I enthusiastically support him.”

Kang previously won the support of Sen. Kevin de León, the current president pro tempore and Democratic leader of the Senate, and has also been endorsed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Monning and Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Sen. Connie Leyva. Four former presidents pro tem of the Senate also have come out for Kang.

“I am deeply appreciative of Sen. Hertzberg’s endorsement and support,” Kang said. “He is big thinker and a real doer, and a force of nature in the Senate. I look forward to joining him in working on the big problems and challenges facing the state of California, and seeking his advice and counsel as a very experiencedlegislator and former speaker of the Assembly.”

Kang was a two-term city councilmember in Irvine, as well as a two-term mayor of the city, reelected overwhelmingly in 2010 with more than 64 percent of the vote. He and his wife Joanne, also a South Korean native who immigrated to the U.S. with him in 1977, have been residents of Orange County for 39 years and now live in Fullerton.

Kang announced his candidacy for the open 29th Senate District on April 22, the first Democrat to do so, and has since picked up dozens of endorsements from state and local officials and community leaders throughout Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.  The district is currently represented by former Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff, who cannot run again due to term limits.

Kang has been recognized numerous times for his outstanding public service and community leadership, including receiving the American Diabetes Association’s “Orange County Father of the Year Award” in 2012, the Carnegie Corporation’s “Pride of America” award in 2010, and the International Leadership Foundation’s “Public Servant of the Year” award in 2010.  The Irvine Chamber of Commerce also recognized Kang in 2010 as “Business Leader of the Year.”

A veteran, Kang served in the South Korean Army, then graduated from the prestigious Korea University with a degree in agricultural economics, and in 2011 was awarded an honorary doctorate from Dongseo University in Busan, Korea.  He also has served a special advisor to the chancellor of UC Irvine, and as an adjunct professor and Chancellor Fellow at Chapman University.

The Kang children, Alan, 35, and Angie, 33, attended public schools in Anaheim, where the Kang family lived for 10 years. Alan, a graduate of USC’s Marshall School of Business, is a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Angie, a graduate of Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall), is senior counsel at Hulu.