Bee Nguyen

Bee Nguyen (born July 18, 1981) is an American nonprofit executive and politician who served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from the 89th district from 2017 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was elected during a special election in December 2017 to fill the seat vacated following Stacey Abrams's resignation in August 2017 to focus on her run for governor. Nguyen is the first Vietnamese-American elected to the Georgia House of Representatives.

Bee Nguyen
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 89th district
In office
December 15, 2017 – January 9, 2023
Preceded byStacey Abrams
Succeeded bySaira Draper (Redistricting)
Personal details
Born (1981-07-18) July 18, 1981
Ames, Iowa, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationGeorgia State University (BA, MA, MPA)
WebsiteCampaign website

Early life and education

Nguyen's parents fled Vietnam by boat, settling in Iowa in 1979.[1][2] Born in Ames, Iowa, Nguyen grew up in Augusta, Georgia,[3] and attended Georgia State University for her bachelor's and master's in English literature and an MPA in finance and management.[4][5] She moved to Atlanta in 1999.[3]

Career

Nguyen was previously the executive director of a nonprofit organization[6] she founded, Athena Warehouse, a program to educate and empower girls in under-resourced communities. She is currently National Policy Advisor for New American Leaders.[7] In November 2018, BizJournals included her on a list of 40 under 40s.[8] Nguyen described her charitable work as helping to "focus her desire to reduce economic disparity".[3]

Elections

After Abrams resigned from the state legislature, four candidates announced efforts to succeed her.[3]

In addition to being the first Vietnamese-American to win election to the Georgia House,[9] Nguyen became the first Asian-American Democratic woman to hold a state office in Georgia.[3]

In June 2020, Nguyen won the Democratic nomination for reelection to her seat by a wide margin.[10]

Tenure

Nguyen opposed the Election Integrity Act of 2021.[11]

2022 Georgia Secretary of State election
Main article: 2022 Georgia Secretary of State election

On May 4, 2021, Nguyen declared her candidacy for Georgia Secretary of State in the 2022 election.[12] In February 2022, she announced that she had raised over $1 million in her campaign.[13] Nguyen received 44% of the vote, and advanced to a runoff election against Dee Dawkins-Haigler, who received 19% of the vote.[14] Nguyen defeated Dawkins-Haigler in the runoff.[15] She lost to the incumbent, Brad Raffensperger, in the November 8 general election.[16]

References
  1. Shoichet, Catherine E. (June 4, 2023). "These decisions weren't popular. Jimmy Carter made them anyway". CNN.com. Retrieved June 5, 2023. Nguyen says her parents fled Vietnam by boat in 1978. A Thai fisherman rescued them, she says, and they spent months in refugee camps in Thailand. "My parents, they risked their lives. They left a country in which they experienced the loss of civil liberties, in which my father was incarcerated by his own government. And they were in search of freedom," Nguyen says. They found it in Iowa, where they moved in 1979. "They were only able to do so because of the political courage exercised by President Carter," she says.
  2. Schouten, Fredreka (May 23, 2022). "'She is our future': A Democratic rising star seeks to make history in Georgia's secretary of state race". CNN.com. Retrieved June 5, 2023. Nguyen, the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, has risen swiftly in the state's Democratic politics. ... As Nguyen stumps in Georgia, she touches frequently on how her family's refugee experience shapes her views. Following the fall of Saigon in 1975, Nguyen said her father – a pharmacist and lieutenant who served in a medical role in the South Vietnamese army aligned with Americans – was imprisoned for three years in a reeducation camp. Once he was released, the family fled – a harrowing journey that included a rescue at sea by a Thai fisherman. The family resettled in Iowa in the late 1970s, where Nguyen was born in 1981. They moved to Augusta, Georgia, when she was young.
  3. Prabhu, Maya T. (October 16, 2017). "Diverse candidate field vies to fill Stacey Abrams' vacant House seat". Atlanta Journal Constitution. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  4. "Bee Nguyen". The Brunswick News. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  5. "The Voter's Self Defense System - Vote Smart". Justfacts.votesmart.org. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  6. "Georgia General Assembly". www.legis.ga.gov.
  7. "Atlanta Heydays profile: Meet Atlanta Bee Nguyen". Buckhead, GA Patch. January 6, 2013.
  8. "40 Under Forty: Georgia House of Representatives' Bee Nguyen". www.bizjournals.com. November 9, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  9. "Georgia House runoff won by Bee Nguyen over Sachin Varghese". ajc.com. Archived from the original on September 9, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  10. "Georgia Statewide Results", The Atlanta Constitution (June 12, 2020), p. A8.
  11. "State Representative on Georgia's new election laws". MSNBC.
  12. Fausset, Richard (May 4, 2021). "Bee Nguyen, Georgia Democrat, Enters Race for Secretary of State". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  13. Murphy, Patricia; Bluestein, Greg; Mitchell, Tia. "The Jolt: Transgender sports ban introduced with high-powered support". Political Insider (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  14. "Bee Nguyen, Dee Dawkins-Haigler in Democratic SoS runoff". Associated Press. May 26, 2022.
  15. Kaur, Brahmjot (June 21, 2022). "Bee Nguyen wins Democratic runoff primary for secretary of state in Georgia". NBC News. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
  16. "Georgia Secretary of State Election Results". The New York Times. November 8, 2022. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
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