David Hyon Moon (born January 28, 1979) is an American activist, lawyer, and politician. He is currently a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 20 in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Early life and education

Moon was born in Takoma Park, Maryland to Korean immigrants. He graduated from Walt Whitman High School, after which he double majored in sociology and philosophy at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

. In 2004, he received a J.D. from the

Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleytown section of nort ...

of American University.

Career

Moon worked as a program director for the progressive, civil liberties group Demand Progress. In 2014, he edited ''Maryland Juice'' a state politics blog, while working as a policy attorney and Democratic political consultant. Previously, he served as the Chief Operating Officer of the election reform group, FairVote, coordinating advocacy efforts to improve the electoral process.

Political activity

Moon served as Campaign Director for Jamie Raskin's 2006 election to the Maryland State Senate, defeating five term incumbent Ida Ruben. Later, Moon worked on the County Council campaign for Nancy Navarro in 2008. In 2013, he announced his candidacy for Maryland State Assembly, replacing the seat vacated by Heather Mizeur who ran for governor. As an Asian American, he was inspired by

Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

's 2008 victory. In 2016, he was a candidate for the seat vacated by Jamie Raskin's election to Congress, earning endorsements from

Service Employees International Union Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members ...

, CASA de Maryland, and

Progressive Maryland Progressive Maryland (PM) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization. Its mission is to build the movement to improve the lives of working families in Maryland through outreach, public education, lobbying, direct political action, ...

Positions

In the legislature, Moon is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and is the Chair of the Criminal Law & Procedure Subcommittee. He was the prior Chair of the Juvenile Law Subcommittee from 2017-2019 and continues to hold membership in the Maryland Legislative Asian-American and Pacific-Islander Caucus. Moon has been a vocal advocate to decriminalize drug laws that have led to mass incarceration. Strongly supportive of greater transparency and accountability, Moon co-sponsored legislation to require video streaming of all Maryland House and Senate sessions and their committees. In 2018, Moon was a leader behind regional efforts to prevent massive subsidies for a new stadium and require a name change for Washington's football team. Moon introduced legislation that would prevent Maryland from offering public funding to encourage owner

Daniel Snyder Daniel Marc Snyder (born November 23, 1964) is an American businessman and owner of the Washington Commanders, an American football team belonging to the National Football League (NFL). He bought the team, then known as the Washington Redskins, ...

to locate the team in Maryland. He was joined by

David Grosso David Grosso (born September 18, 1970) is an American attorney and politician. He is a former at-large member of the Council of the District of Columbia who lives in Brookland. A native Washingtonian, he graduated from Earlham College and Georget ...

, his legislative colleague on the Council of the District of Columbia. He sought to join other legislators to oppose the conservative agenda of Republican Governor Larry Hogan. In 2020, Moon introduced legislation allowing the use of no-knock warrants by Maryland Police only as a last resort. The measure came in the wake of outrage over the

shooting of Breonna Taylor Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American woman, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment on March 13, 2020, when at least seven police officers forced entry into the apartment as part of an investigation into drug dealing op ...

Other activities

As a program director with the online organizing group Demand Progress, Moon was active organization helped lead the fight against the

Stop Online Piracy Act The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a controversial proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Introduced on O ...

and related bills. Moon was a co-editor of a book about that effort, called ''Hacking Politics''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moon, David 1979 births American politicians of Korean descent Asian-American people in Maryland politics Living people Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates People from Takoma Park, Maryland Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni Washington College of Law alumni 21st-century American politicians