As a chemist and immigrant from Vietnam, Linh Nguyen never thought she could have a role in U.S. politics. But then Donald Trump was elected president in 2016 and he “unknowingly inspired minority leaders, women of color like me, to be more actively engaged in politics,” she said.
She joined the nonpartisan League of Women Voters in DeKalb County, Illinois, where she lives with her husband and two young children, and was elected the group’s president in March 2020.
Nguyen used the role to plan voter registration drives and do voter education, but grew angry when Trump and other Republicans amplified misinformation about voting following the November presidential election. Then, earlier this year, a gunman shot and killed eight people, including six Asian American women, in the Atlanta area.
Troubled by the hateful rhetoric as well as the association of the coronavirus pandemic with Asian Americans, Nguyen decided to run as a Democrat in 2022 for clerk of DeKalb County, an elected position tasked with administering the country’s elections. She’ll face Tasha Sims, the executive assistant for the DeKalb County administration office who is being supported by the current Republican clerk, who isn’t seeking reelection.
“Before the 2016 election and before the 2020 election, nobody cared about election authorities,” Nguyen told States Newsroom. “The title is county clerk, and it’s very unattractive and boring and nobody really knew what they do. But because of what happened, we...
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