Alex Tinming Lee (; born July 11, 1995) is an American politician who has served as a member of the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

since 2020, having represented the 24th district since 2022 and the 25th district from 2020 to 2022. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Lee's district includes Fremont,

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

, Sunol,

Milpitas Milpitas (Spanish for "little milpas") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José Marí ...

, and parts of western San Jose.

Early life, education, and career

Lee was born on July 11, 1995, in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. His parents immigrated to the United States from

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. His father is an engineer and his mother is a nurse. After his parents divorced, Lee lived alternately with his father in

and his mother in

North San Jose North San Jose (abbreviated as NSJ) is the northern region of the city of San Jose, California. North San Jose is made up of numerous neighborhoods grouped into three districts: Alviso, Berryessa, and Rincon / Golden Triangle. North San Jose ...

. Lee graduated from

Milpitas High School Milpitas High School (MHS) is a public four-year comprehensive high school in Milpitas, California, a suburban community north of San Jose. It is one of two high schools within the Milpitas Unified School District. As of 2013, Milpitas High Scho ...

in 2013. He became interested in filmmaking and eventually decided to pursue a dual degree in political science and communications at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

. Lee ran for a seat on the student senate at UC Davis in 2014 and served as student body president in 2016. He graduated with a

bachelor of arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 2017. While attending college, Lee was an

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

for several politicians including

Mike Honda Michael Makoto "Mike" Honda (born June 27, 1941) is an American politician and former educator. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in Congress from 2001 to 2017. Initially involved in education in California, he first became active in ...

Ed Chau Edwin “Ed” Chau (born September 17, 1957) is an American jurist and politician who served in the California State Assembly as a Democrat representing the 49th state assembly District from 2012 to 2021. On November 29, 2021, California Gover ...

, Evan Low,

Cecilia Aguiar-Curry Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (born September 25, 1954) is an American politician serving in the California State Assembly. She is a Democrat representing the 4th Assembly District, encompassing Wine Country and the western parts of the Sacramento Val ...

, and

Kansen Chu Kansen Chu ( born October 27, 1952) is a Taiwanese-born American politician. A Democrat, Chu was a member of the California State Assembly from 2014 to 2020, for the 25th District, which encompasses parts of the South and East Bay regions of the ...

. He began working for Henry Stern as a full-time legislative aide after graduating college. Prior to running for office, Lee delivered food, and lived with his mother due to the high cost of living in his district.

California State Assembly

Tenure

In June 2019, Lee announced he would run to succeed Chu in the 25th district upon Chu's retirement from the State Assembly. He ran as a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...

and was endorsed by the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing Democratic Socialists of America#Tendencies within the DSA, multi-tendency Socialism, socialist and Labour movement, labor-oriented political organization. Its roots ...

. In March 2020, Lee finished second in a field of nine candidates in the nonpartisan blanket primary; he split the vote with seven other Democrats and finished behind Republican Bob Brunton. Lee defeated Brunton in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. Lee was sworn into the State Assembly on December 7, 2020. Taking office at age 25, he was the Assembly's youngest member, the first born in the 1990s, and the first openly

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

member. On his first day in office, Lee introduced a bill that would ban corporate donations to political candidates. Lee has since introduced legislation in favor of increasing

social housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

in California. He has also secured $2.5 million in funding for

bicycle infrastructure Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except w ...

and services for unhoused people in Milpitas. In

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, Lee was redrawn into the 24th district. He placed first in the nonpartisan blanket primary ahead of Brunton, Chu, and two other Democrats, and defeated Brunton in a rematch in the general election. He was sworn into his second term on December 5, 2022.

Electoral history

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Alex 1995 births Living people 21st-century American politicians California politicians of Chinese descent University of California, Davis alumni Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly California socialists American democratic socialists Bisexual politicians LGBT state legislators in California American LGBT people of Asian descent American politicians of Hong Kong descent People from Milpitas, California Politicians from San Jose, California Bisexual men 21st-century American LGBT people