Record number of Vietnamese Americans elected to serve in Oregon state Legislature

Last month, four candidates of Vietnamese heritage from the Portland metro area were elected to serve in the Oregon House of Representatives. Along with Rep. Khan Pham, who won reelection in November, Oregon now boasts the largest number of Vietnamese American state lawmakers in the nation. We hear from Representative-elect Hai Pham, a Democrat and pediatric dentist whose House District 36 covers Hillsboro, parts of Beaverton and unincorporated Washington County. Rep. Khanh Pham is a Democrat representing House District 46, which covers Southeast Portland. In 2020, she was elected as the only Asian-American in the Oregon House of Representatives.

This transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Oregon voters made history in the most recent election. Every single Vietnamese American candidate for seats in the state House of Representatives won their races. So now five Vietnamese American Oregonians will serve in the legislature, the most ever in any state legislature in the country. It’s all the more striking given that states like California and Texas have both larger legislatures and higher percentages of Vietnamese American residents.

For more on what happened in Oregon and what it means, I’m joined by Khanh Pham who was recently elected to her second term as a Democrat, representing parts of Southeast Portland and Hai Pham, no relation, a dentist who was just elected to his first term. The Democrats will represent parts of Hillsboro, Beaverton and unincorporated Washington County. Congratulations and welcome to both of you.

Khanh Pham: Thank you so much. Happy to be here.

Hai Pham: Thank you for having us.

Miller: Hai Pham, what motivated you to run for the legislature? And I should point out this was the first elected office you’ve ever run for.

H. Pham: It sure is. I’m driven by wanting to help my community. As a pediatric dentist, I give back to my patients every single day, and do a lot of pro bono work. This was the natural progression for me to help more individuals here in my own community and throughout Oregon.

Miller: Can you put this decision in the context of your own family’s story and history?

H. Pham: So my family and I immigrated here almost 43 years ago. My parents escaped Vietnam in a little small boat. During that journey, they didn’t know if they’re gonna survive or not. And the boat was robbed several different times by pirates and by the third time, one of the pirates said to go over this direction, there would be a commercial vessel that could come and rescue you. And so sure enough we went out that direction. My mom was pregnant with me at that time and then we were rescued and then taken to Malaysia to a refugee camp there where I was born in a humble grass hut. And that was the start of my life.

We later got sponsored to Corvallis, Oregon, where so many families helped us integrate into American culture and help us get to where we are today. So that was kind of what has motivated me to help give back as much as I can and pay it forward.

Miller: What does it tell you that, from those beginnings, you were able to build a successful dentistry practice and now to be elected to the state legislature?

H. Pham: Yeah, definitely it’s still a lot of hard work and patience and learning that it takes a village to make things happen. And being able to have the opportunity to run for office, is such an amazing experience to do. I never in a million years would ever thought to have an opportunity to do this.

Miller: Did Khanh Pham’s win two years ago affect the way that you thought about your own political prospects?

H. Pham: Yes, she’s been amazing. I met her for the first time during the campaign trail at different events . . .

Miller: During her campaign trail two years ago or yours when you ran this past November?

H. Pham: During my campaign this past year. Yes, that’s when I had the opportunity for the first time. She was very kind and helpful and just very inspirational on her priorities, platforms and wanting to help uplift all Oregonians.

Miller: Khanh Pham, let’s turn to you. First of all, just explain what happened. This record number of Vietnamese American lawmakers elected to the Oregon state House of Representatives?

K. Pham: I think it’s really about all of these efforts. Sometimes the dice can roll the right way. But really it’s been the work of years and years of community groups really trying to say, ‘look, we have all these immigrants and refugees and Black, Indigenous and People of Color who have not been represented.’ And we are starting to invest in candidate training programs and just leadership development opportunities. I know Hai Pham wasn’t elected but was serving in government appointee commissions. All those boards and commissions that are made up of just countless volunteers devoting their time on issues they care about. These are the laboratories.

I came from the environmental justice community where I developed a lot of my policy analysis and advocacy skills. Rep.-elect Pham came from the Governor’s Health Care Commission. It’s really, to me, indicative of the success of people who have been planting these seeds for many years. And finally we see that go into fruition. And I think it was particularly meaningful for me in this time when there’s so much anti-immigrant and anti-refugee backlash. Also just recently, a Senator and I were able to win $18 million to help African refugees settle and have some housing assistance support when they settle in Oregon. I think it really is a testament to the investment we are making. I’m actually positive that in 20 years, or hopefully even sooner, we’ll also have African refugees represented in our Oregon legislature as well.

Miller: You brought up a lot there that we should circle back to. But let’s start with where you just ended up. For African refugees, people who have arrived in just the last couple or six months or year and a half - and obviously, there are people who have arrived as refugees recently from other countries as well - what, concretely, would it take for them to become members of the Oregon legislature in the coming years?

K. Pham: Well, we actually have Senator Kayse Jama, who is himself a Somali refugee and came here at 17 to Oregon with almost nothing to his name. And I think that it’s the kinds of investments that we are making now in terms of democracy reforms, civic engagement, making sure that our democracy really is open and inclusive. I was proud to champion a policy that we passed to translate our online voter pamphlet statements into the top five most spoken languages outside of English. And that is really critical so that people can better understand who are the candidates who are running, what are the ballot measures that they get to weigh in on? I think that all of these democracy reforms and civic engagement programs are really about making sure that our elected officials truly represent the diversity of Oregon’s communities.

Miller: You also mentioned earlier that Asian American communities in Oregon and around the country experienced a sharp rise in reported hate crimes in recent years during the pandemic. How do you reconcile that with these particular electoral victories of Vietnamese Americans in Oregon?

K. Pham: I often think American history is about taking two steps forward and then sometimes feeling a backlash. I think that we are seeing a lot more diverse representation. And I think this recent election is a testament to the support that Oregon voters have for wanting to see more diverse voices representing them in the state legislature.

At the same time, there are forces who are organizing and are growing as well. We’re seeing growing white nationalist movements who are asserting, and kind of romanticizing, a past vision of America that is exclusive, that is a more a white nationalist-centered vision for what America is. And by extension, what Oregon is. And I think that that is a conversation that we’re going to continue to have in our state as we kind of struggle over what it means to be an American.

Miller: Hai Pham, what was campaigning like for you as a first time candidate?

H. Pham: I have a one and a half month old son now. So when I started on the campaign trail, he was very young and there was a lot of nights away from home and the family. It was really hard. But it was very worth it. I got to go out and meet a lot of different constituents and people who cared about democracy and talk to them about what they cared most about and that was very rewarding. But at the end of the day, everything that led up to winning here in November was worth every sacrifice I had to make because on top of that I had to balance that with being a full time pediatric dentist, doing surgeries in the hospital, managing a workforce shortage on my team and trying to find space for all patients that are in pain that needed to come in. So it’s very difficult to do while having a full time job. But at the end of the day, it was very worth it.

Miller: How has your experience as a pediatric dentist affected the way you think about the issues that Oregon and Oregonians are facing?

H. Pham: It gives me a unique perspective because I work with people from all walks of life from different areas of Oregon. Some families drive six plus hours to come see us because I take care of medically compromised patients at the hospital. So I get to hear and listen to the different concerns from individuals from all over the state. As a small business owner, I also have a different hat that I wear. I have to balance the checkbook and learn about the labor laws and the taxes and things like that. So I think that’s a unique lens that I’ll be able to bring down to Salem.

Miller: Khanh Pham, so it’s now been two years or so since you were first elected to the legislature. What do you know today that you wish you’d known at the start of your legislative career?

K. Pham: There are so many lessons I’ve learned in terms of what it means to work with agencies and the kinds of ways in which you can operate in both chambers to really advance the bill. But I think the lesson that I most wish I could impart is just to really own my power. As a community organizer, sometimes I’ve internalized a certain sense of powerlessness, and I think being in the legislature has really given me an insight into why I ran. All the communities that helped elect me and the urgency of addressing our environmental climate, economic and racial justice challenges - to really own that, and to fight fearlessly on behalf of the communities. I mean, I think I already had it, but I think I’m coming back for my second term even more fully grounded in the urgency of this moment.

Miller: Is ‘owning your own power’ basically the same thing as exercising the power that your constituents invested in you?

K. Pham: Yes. And also I should say that it’s part of the contradictions of when we do come from marginalized communities, often we’ve internalized this sense of powerlessness. I think that’s the kind of dual, both exercising the power that my constituents have given and then recognizing that I, myself, need to be unlearning some of the lessons that coming from a more marginalized community has kind of manifested.

Miller: What advice then do you have for people like Hai Pham, or other newbies?

K. Pham: The advice that I would have is to remain accountable to the people and communities who elected you. I think it can be easy to start to get in an echo chamber of political insiders. But what’s beautiful about our democracy is that we always come back to our community in the interim. And it’s so important to reground yourself and really open up lines of accountability so that we can make sure that we’re truly listening to our communities, truly advocating for them, not just engaging in ‘political baseball’ or calculations, but really fighting because my job is not to necessarily get reelected. My job is to make sure that I am fighting on the issues that my constituents care about and that are life or death issues, whether it’s housing or climate or transportation. I think that kind of accountability is so important for new elected officials to really stay grounded in.

Miller: Hai Pham, you mentioned that the challenge of fitting in campaigning time to what was already a full time job running your own small business as a dentist. What, before you started campaigning, were your dentist office hours? Like how much time would you spend there?

H. Pham: So it depends on the day. And the days that I do surgeries in the office, we have an anesthesia team that comes in and provides mobile anesthesia services. So those days I get up at 4:00AM, at my office from 5:30 in the morning and surgery starts at 6:00AM. And we go nonstop pretty much until 5PM and sometimes later depending on our caseload. Then on other days, where there’re just routine clinical days, those days were from 8 to 5, just clinical days hours. And then after that I go home and spend time with family. And then once everybody goes back to sleep, I’ll be taking care of the business side of things, catching up my chart notes.

The other component of my practice is to operate at the three major hospital systems where we take patients up to the operating room where they’re really medically compromised or fragile. And then that takes a lot of legwork. Also because we have to consult with their other specialists whether it’s their neurologist, cardiologist, rheumatologist, you name it, to make sure that we’re prepped and ready to go up to the hospital for those cases. That’s kind of a typical day for me. So average workweek is 60-70 hours. For me, that’s normal. And then you throw on the campaigning and working the late hours. I guess I’m used to it because that’s what I’ve done since residency and just haven’t stopped that lifestyle just go, go go.

Miller: From what I’ve heard over the years, including from a former state lawmaker, even though being a lawmaker is technically part-time, the hours and effort of a state rep can really vary. You can sort of coast with a minimum of effort or you can essentially work all the time as a lawmaker. How do you plan to balance your time at your dental practice with your work as a representative for the people?

H. Pham: Well, the people like me to do the people’s work. So I’ll give it 200%. So even though it’s ‘the part-time job,’ I’ll do everything I can to do the job well and then put in as many hours as I need. So as far as my practice, I am fortunate enough to have some amazing associates that will help pick up some of the workload. And hopefully on my Fridays, I can still do some surgeries up at the hospital. So that’s how I’m gonna manage my workload here at the practice. Then out of session, I’ll find that workload balance between being a legislator out of session, meeting with constituents and continuing to do the people’s work out of session.

K. Pham: I’m happy to chime in as well. I just would like to say that it is definitely a full time job. It’s more than a full time job and year round. And I think as we face multiple crises between the pandemic and now, housing crisis at so many levels, we really do need legislators who are able to devote themselves full time and year round to be able to effectively advance the policies that our communities need, as well as serve in so many ways as case managers where we’re actually helping our constituents on very particular cases with different agencies that they need help with.

Miller: Khanh Pham, sticking with you, I want to turn to partisan politics. In Southern California, Vietnamese American voters have often supported conservative candidates and have been more likely to vote for Republicans. I’ve seen that explained by some political scientists as a kind of anti-communist holdover from the war in the 1960′s and ‘70′s. Given that, how do you explain the fact that all of you in the Oregon legislature are Democrats?

K. Pham: I think it has to do with [the fact] that all of us are 1.5 or second generation. I think it’s part of the evolution. A lot of our parents went through war, re-education camps, really traumatic experiences that have shaped their world view and have shaped their politics, as well as the places they’ve been shaped by, the places where they settle, which have included Texas and California. And I think part of what the freedom I’ve been able to have, as a second generation child of immigrants and refugees, has been to chart my own path and to go to college here in Oregon and and develop my own analysis about what are the root causes of some of the problems that we face.

My parents, I think, still harken back to their homeland, right? And I think me being born and raised here, I’m much more forward future looking. As much as I honor the sacrifices they made and what has happened, I think I’m really deeply rooted in the politics of the United States and less so in the politics of the war, which happened over 40 some odd years ago. And so I think the difference comes from the generation of immigrants and what we’re able to really focus our political energy on.

Miller: I’m glad you mentioned the generational issue because even in California, I’ve seen reporting from CalMatters and other places showing that Vietnamese Americans over the age 55 are much more likely to be Republicans now than Vietnamese American voters below, say, the age of 30 or 35. There’s been a big increase in Democratic voters and younger Vietnamese Americans. I imagine that could lead to very interesting, maybe sometimes difficult, intergenerational conversations these days?

K. Pham: Like all communities, particularly immigrant communities, what it means to be American is evolving. We’ve been here almost 50 years now and I think the kinds of issues that we care about, just like we see with the Cuban American community or the Venezuelan community, U.S. geopolitics first had a huge influence in shaping our politics. But now as we’ve been here for decades, we’re not a monolith. I came in as an environmental and climate justice organizer. Hai comes in caring deeply about health care affordability and making it accessible to everyone. We are no longer so simple and narrow as I think some forces would like us to think. And I think people will see how diverse our communities really are and in terms of the kinds of policies that we’re pushing now at the state level.

Miller: And just to give listeners a sense for the employment diversity just within these five, soon to be lawmakers - or Khanh, you already are one - there’s also a school attendance officer, an optometrist and a restaurant owner with a series of restaurants in the Portland area. Hai Pham, what do you want to be able to say you’ve accomplished two years from now?

H. Pham: I definitely would like to be part of the solution for the behavioral health crisis. I want to also be able to be part of the conversation to help address homelessness and affordable housing. I think those are some of the really big issues that we really need to focus on this next session. And then also making health care affordable for everybody and accessible to everybody. If I can do those things, I’d be really happy and I’d feel like I’ve done the people’s work.

Miller: Hai Pham and Khanh Pham, thanks very much.

H. Pham: Thank you.

K. Pham: Thanks for having us.

Miller: Hai Pham will serve his first term in District 36 of the Oregon state legislature. The House of Representatives includes parts of Hillsboro, Beaverton and unincorporated Washington County. Khanh Pham will serve her second term in District 46. That includes parts of Northeast and Southeast Portland.

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