Judy Chu


Judy May Chu is an American politician and the United States Representative for, serving in Congress since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first Chinese American woman elected to the United States Congress.
Chu was previously Chair of the California Board of Equalization, representing the 4th District. She had also served on the Garvey Unified School District Board of Education, the Monterey Park City Council and the California State Assembly.
Chu ran in the 32nd congressional district special election for the seat that was vacated by Hilda Solis after she was confirmed as Barack Obama's Secretary of Labor in 2009. She defeated Republican candidate Betty Tom Chu and Libertarian candidate Christopher Agrella in a runoff election on July 14, 2009. Chu was redistricted to the 27th District in 2012, but was still re-elected to a third term, defeating Republican challenger Jack Orswell.

Early life

Chu was born in 1953 in Los Angeles. Chu's father Judson Chu was a World War II veteran born in California, and Chu's mother May was a war bride originally from Jiangmen, Guangdong, China. Chu grew up in Los Angeles, near 62nd Street and Normandie Avenue, until her early teen years, when the family moved to the Bay Area.

Education

In 1974, Chu earned a B.A. degree in mathematics from UCLA. In 1979, Chu earned a Ph.D. degree in psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology of Alliant International University's Los Angeles campus.

Career

Academic

She taught psychology at the Los Angeles Community College District for 20 years, including 13 years at East Los Angeles College.

Local politics

Chu's first elected position was Board Member for the Garvey School District in Rosemead, California in 1985.
In 1988, Chu was elected to the city council of Monterey Park, California.
In 1989, Chu became mayor of Monterey Park, California, until 1994. Chu served as mayor for three terms.
Chu ran for the California State Assembly in 1994, but lost the Democratic primary to Diane Martinez; in 1998, she lost the primary to Gloria Romero.
Chu was elected to the State Assembly on May 15, 2001, following a special election after Romero was elected to the State Senate. She was elected to a full term in 2002 and was reelected in 2004. The district includes Alhambra, El Monte, Duarte, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino, and South El Monte, within Los Angeles County.
Barred by term limits from running for a third full term in 2006, Chu was elected to the State Board of Equalization from the 4th District, representing most of Los Angeles County.

U.S. House of Representatives

;2009
Chu decided to run for the 2009 special election for the California's 32nd congressional district after U.S. Congresswoman Hilda Solis was appointed to become President Barack Obama's U.S. Secretary of Labor. Chu led the field in the May 19 special election. However, due to the crowded nature of the primary she only got 32% of the vote, well short of the 50% vote needed to win outright. In the run-off election, she defeated Republican Betty Chu 62%–33%.
;2010
Chu was heavily favored due to the district's heavy Democrat tilt and with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+15, it is one of the safest Democrat districts in the nation. She won re-election to her first full term with 71% of the vote.
;2012
In August 2011, Chu decided to run in the newly redrawn California's 27th congressional district. The district has the second highest percentage of Asian Americans in the state with 37%, behind the newly redrawn 17th CD which is 50% Asian. Registered Democrats make up 42% of the district. Obama won the district with 63% in the 2008 presidential. Jerry Brown won with 55% in the 2010 gubernatorial election. Representative Chu won re-election by defeating Republican Jack Orswell 64% to 36%.
;2014
Chu won reelection over Republican Jack Orswell by a 59.4% to 40.6% margin.
;2016
Chu won reelection over Republican Jack Orswell by a 67.4% to 32.6% margin.
;2018
Chu won reelection over fellow Democrat Bryan Witt by a 79.2% to 20.8% margin,, in one of a handful of districts in California that featured only Democrats on its midterm ballot .

Tenure

Chu was sworn into office on July 16, 2009.
;Immigration
Chu believes that the immigration system is outdated and in need of reform. She has worked to pass the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. She strongly supports the DREAM Act and has worked for its passage. She has introduced the Protect Our Workers from Exploitation and Retaliation Act, introduced to stop disreputable employers from exploiting immigrants.
In July 2015, Chu went before Congress to speak out against what she sees as the "shocking" treatment of women and children held in for-profit detention facilities in the U.S. Comparing them to Japanese internment camps, Chu states the prolonged detention re-traumatizes families, breaks apart the parent-child relationship, and has serious cognitive effects on children.
On December 6, 2017, Chu was arrested during a protest outside of the U.S. Capitol.
;Abortion
Chu cosponsored the Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act of 2010 which authorizes the President of the United States to support measures providing abortions and other reproduction assistance to women in developing countries. In 2010, Chu voting against measures proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives to strip government funding to Planned Parenthood, and opposed restricting federal funding of abortions. Chu has received ratings of 100 from all Pro-Choice affiliates including Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. She has also received ratings of 100 from the NARAL pro-choice California in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 while receiving very low ratings given by Pro-Life organizations in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.
;Budget
In 2009, Chu voted to increase the debt ceiling to $12.394 trillion. In 2010, Chu voted to increase the debt ceiling to $14.294 trillion. In January 2011, she voted against a bill to reduce spending on non-security items to fiscal year 2008 levels. In 2011, Chu voted against the Budget Control Act of 2011, which incrementally raised the debt ceiling.
;Defense of Civil Liberties
Chu opposed the "See Something, Say Something Act of 2011," which provides "immunity for reports of suspected terrorist activity or suspicious behavior and response." She said, "if a person contacts law enforcement about something based solely on someone's race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin, they would not receive immunity from civil lawsuits."
On July 24, 2013, the United States House of Representatives voted on Amendment 100 to the H.R. 2397 Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2014 which, if passed, would have ended the authority for the blanket collection of records under the Patriot Act. Chu voted "Aye" to pass amendment 100 and end the blanket collection authority; however, the amendment did not pass with the "Noes" blocking the amendment 217-205.
;Internet policy
In 2011, Rep. Chu became a co-sponsor of Bill H.R.3261 otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act.
;Apology for the Chinese Exclusion Act
On June 18, 2012, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution, introduced by Congresswoman Chu, that formally expresses the regret of the House of Representatives for the Chinese Exclusion Act, which imposed almost total restrictions on Chinese immigration and naturalization and denied Chinese-Americans basic freedoms because of their ethnicity. This was only the fourth time that the U.S. Congress issued an apology to a group of people.
;Ethics
In June 2011 the House Ethics Committee began an investigation after receiving information suggesting that two of Chu's top aides had directed staffers to do campaign tasks during regular work hours. In the course of the investigation it was found that Chu had sent two emails to her staff on how to respond to aspects of the Ethics Committee's inquiry. While the Committee found no evidence to support that Chu was aware of the actions of her staff, they did find that the emails represented actions that interfered with the committee's investigation of the matter, and on December 11, 2014, Rep. Chu was formally reprimanded by the House Ethics Committee for interfering with their investigation of her office.
;Advocating People's Mujahedin of Iran
In 2015, The Intercept published an investigative work by Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton, assisted in part by the work of independent researcher Joanne Stocker, indicating that Chu received $11,150 from the People's Mujahedin of Iran between January 2009 and September 2012, when the MEK was listed a Foreign Terrorist Organization. She is an advocate of the MEK.

Committee assignments

In December 2019 Chu and her brother Dean Chu donated $375,000 to the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, California.

Personal life

Chu married Mike Eng in 1978. Eng took Chu's seat on the Monterey Park City Council in 2001, when Chu left the council after getting elected to the Assembly, and in 2006 he took Chu's seat on the Assembly, when Chu left the Assembly.
Chu's nephew, Lance Corporal Harry Lew, a US Marine, committed suicide while serving in Afghanistan on April 3, 2011, allegedly as a result of hazing from fellow Marines after Lew allegedly repeatedly fell asleep during his watch. Chu described her nephew as a patriotic American and said that those responsible must be brought to justice.
Chu is one of just two Unitarian Universalists in Congress.