California 89.32%
District of Columbia 4.59%
Texas 1.78%
Illinois 1.76%
Other 2.55%
Assemblymember Kansen Chu was elected in November 2014 to represent California’s 25th Assembly District, which includes the Alameda County communities of Fremont and Newark, and the Santa Clara County communities of Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara.
Kansen Chu has served on the San Jose City Council since June 2007. He was the first Chinese American to serve on the region’s City Council. During this time, he made public health and the environment top priorities, passing legislation to require citywide green building standards, ban the use of single-use plastic bags. He also promoted the installation of automatic heart defibrillators across San Jose.
While serving on the City Council, Chu worked with community members to create the North San Jose Neighborhood Plan, established the Berryessa Business Association, helped to start the Berryessa Farmers Market, and moved the long-awaited Commodore Park project forward. He serves on 21 local and regional governing committees and represents San Jose on the League of California Cities and Association of Bay Area Governments.
A long-time advocate for education, Chu was elected to the Berryessa School Board in 2002. As a school boardmember, he worked to bolster public education materials, strengthen curriculum and improve public access to school board meetings.
Born in Taiwan, Chu moved to the United States in 1976 as a graduate student. He has a Master's in Electrical Engineering from Cal State Northridge, and worked as a Microdiagnostics Microprogrammer at IBM for 18 years. He also owned and operated Ocean Harbor Chinese Restaurant for 16 years.
Chu and his wife Daisy have been married for over 35 years. They have two adult children, Ann and Walt, a son-in-law Steve Blomquist, and two grandchildren, granddaughter Kimberly Chu Blomquist and grandson Connor Chu Blomquist.
