Sery Kim loses important support in the Texas race after racist comments about Chinese immigrants

A Republican candidate in the special election to replace the late deputy Ron Wright, R-Arlington, is facing an intense reaction and has lost two of her biggest supporters after saying she doesn’t want Chinese immigrants to the United States.

The comments of Sery Kim, a Korean-American who served in the Small Business Administration under President Donald Trump, led representatives of the U.S. California. Young Kim and Michelle Steel to terminate their endorsement of her on Friday. Kim and Steel are the first Korean-American women in the Republican Party to serve in Congress.

“We cannot, in good conscience, continue to support your candidacy,” lawmakers said in a statement.

The candidate did not apologize, however, arguing that she was speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party and blaming the “liberal media” for the uproar.

Sery Kim made the anti-Chinese comments earlier this week on a Republican Party forum in Arlington, while answering a question about immigration issues in the United States.

“I don’t want them here at all,” said Kim of potential Chinese immigrants. “They steal our intellectual property, give us the coronavirus, are not responsible”.

“And frankly, I can say that because I’m a Korean,” she added.

Hate crimes against Asian Americans have increased since the coronavirus pandemic began in China. Trump has repeatedly blamed China for the pandemic and called the coronavirus “the Chinese virus”. Kim’s comment came less than a month after the shooting at an Atlanta spa that killed eight people, six of whom were Asian descendants.

The comments were condemned by groups such as the DFW Asian-American Citizens Council and AAPI Progressive Action, which works to build political power around Asian Americans and the Pacific Islands.

Kim is one of 11 Republicans – and 23 candidates in all – in the May 1 vote to fill the vacancy for Wright, who died earlier this year after being hospitalized with coronavirus.

Young Kim and Steel endorsed Sery Kim at the start of the race, about a week after last month’s submission deadline.

In their statement drawing their endorsement, the two lawmakers said they spoke on Thursday with Sery Kim “about their offensive and false comments about Chinese immigrants, and made it clear that their comments were unacceptable”.

“We ask her to apologize and clarify her comments, especially as hatred against the AAPI community is increasing,” said the congressmen. “However, she has not shown public remorse and her words have been contrary to what we stand for.”

Asked about the loss of endorsements, Kim provided a one-sentence sentence: “I am shocked that, in an effort to contain Asian-American hatred, the liberal media is turning to me, an Asian and an immigrant, in an effort to paint me as anti-Asian and anti-immigrant just for speaking out against the oppressive Chinese Communist Party. “

Until this week, Sery Kim was not a particularly well-known candidate in the special election. The Republican camp also features Wright’s widow, Republican activist Susan Wright, as well as state deputy Jake Ellzey de Waxahachie.

On the Democratic side, at least one competitor, Lydia Bean, rejected Sery Kim’s comments on the forum, saying they target people like her Chinese-American husband, Norman, and her 10-month-old son. Norman’s parents came to the United States from China in 1966, Bean said.

“This kind of speech, no matter who comes, puts their lives in danger,” Bean, a Texas House candidate in 2020, tweeted Thursday. “It is racist and it is not who we are in Texas.”

Early voting for the special election begins on April 19.