Elisa Chan () is a

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

ese-American politician and businesswoman who has served as a member for District 9 of the

San Antonio City Council The San Antonio City Council is the legislative arm of the municipal government of the city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. It consists of 10 members elected from single-member districts. San Antonio has a council-manager form of gove ...

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. She was a candidate in the 2022 Republican primary for the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

Early life and education

Chan was born in Taipai, Taiwan in 1966 to Chinese parents. She was raised in Taiwan and Brazil before she and her family moved to China in 1980. She emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1988 to attend the

University of Texas at San Antonio The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is a public research university in San Antonio, Texas. With over 34,000 students across its four campuses spanning 758 acres, UTSA is the largest university in San Antonio and the eighth-largest by ...

, and then in 1992 with Clifford Hew co-founded Unintech Consulting Engineers (UNINTECH), a structural and civil engineering design and consulting firm. She married Hew in 1994. She became a citizen of the United States in 1999. Chan attended the

Beijing University of Technology Beijing University of Technology (), also called Beijing Polytechnic University or Bei Gong Da (), is recognized as one of the Project 211 universities. The university has established a multidisciplinary academic structure, offering a variety ...

, where she received her

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in Computer Software Engineering in 1987, and later received her

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

at the

in 1993. After completing her Master's degree, she was a product manager for Emis Software Inc., and she began work for the Research Imaging Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center in 1995. In 1998, she joined UNINTECH and oversaw the expansion of the company.

Political career

In 2009, Chan was elected to the San Antonio City Council, becoming the first woman and first member of a minority group to represent the district. She easily won reelection several times. In August 2013, the ''

San Antonio Express-News The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...

'' published a report based on a secretly-recorded May 21 conversation between Chan and a colleague about a proposed anti-discrimination ordinance designed to protect

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

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 ...

and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

residents from discrimination in which she made a variety of comments, including a reference to the LGBTQ community as "disgusting"; this occurred several months prior to the city council debated the proposed human rights ordinance. Political officials criticized her comments after the report was published and the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGB ...

and others called for her to resign, and her comments received national attention from the media. After defending her comments on the basis of

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

, she voted against the ordinance in September, and the ordinance passed 8–3. In October 2013, Chan announced her resignation from the city council effective October 18 after stating in September that she would run against the incumbent

Tea Party A tea party is a social gathering event held in the afternoon. For centuries, many societies have cherished drinking tea with a company at noon. Tea parties are considered for formal business meetings, social celebrations or just as an afternoon ...

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Donna Campbell Donna Sue Burrows Campbell (born September 9, 1954) is an American politician and physician who is the 25th District member of the Texas Senate. On July 31, 2012, she became the first person in Texas history to defeat an incumbent Republican sen ...

Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per cons ...

District 25. She lost the primary election to Campbell by 31 points. In 2022, Chan competed in the HD 122 Republican primary for the vacant seat following the retirement of State Rep.

Lyle Larson Lyle Thomas Larson (born March 25, 1959) is a businessman from San Antonio, Texas, who is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 122 in his native northern Bexar County. He was first elected to the state House in 2 ...

. In the March 2022 primary, she received the most votes with 37 percent of the vote, and a runoff election on May 24 is required because no candidate reached 50 percent. She did not win the runoff election.

References

External links

*
Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, Elisa American politicians of Taiwanese descent American women of Taiwanese descent in politics Asian-American people in Texas politics Living people 1966 births San Antonio City Council members Taiwanese emigrants to the United States Women city councillors in Texas Asian-American city council members People with acquired American citizenship University of Texas at San Antonio alumni 21st-century American women