Chinese-American runs for California lt. governor

Chinese-American engineer George Yang is running for the post of California’s lieutenant governor. [Image credit/ goyanggo.org]

George Yang (Yang Chengzhi), a Chinese-American engineer, is currently running for the post of Lieutenant Governor of the U.S. state of California.

Born in Guangzhou, 36-year-old Yang moved to the United States in 1992 together with his parents. The family had had a hard time earlier on, but Yang put in his share by doing odd jobs, as he revealed on his campaign website. Yang graduated from Golden Gate University before embarking on a career in computer engineering and is now running his own software programming business.

Yang proposed to curb the tuition hike in Californian universities, caused by the reduced state funding at these universities. He would be empowered to do so if elected, as a lieutenant governor is responsible for the education, economy and public land development in the state.

Yang strongly opposes the controversial California Senate Constitutional Amendment No.5 (SCA-5), which was introduced in late 2012, to eliminate a ban on the consideration of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the recruitment, admissions and retention programs at Californian public universities and colleges. The SCA-5 would virtually reduce Asian American admission rates and lift the chances of being admitted for Hispanic Americans.

Yang said that distributing public education resources in accordance with the population numbers would hamper the admission levels across Californian universities. The practical ways of helping Hispanic and African American students is to provide them with after-school tutoring and career education.

Yang also proposed to promote export in California, especially within the food sector. He set out to "target Asian markets where food and product safety is a major concern; and work with Californian merchants to develop a strong branding campaign", according to policies laid out on his campaign website. He also proposed to bolster the tourism industry in the state.

Yang lost in the state assembly election of 2012, yet remains optimistic this time around, despite facing strong competitors such as Ron Nehring (former chairman of the California Republican Party) and Gavin Newson (the current lieutenant governor of California). He has won the support of several prominent politicians, including Tim Donnelly, a Republican member of the California State Assembly and favorable candidate for the post of California governor.

Yang likely stands a 50 percent chance of success in the primary elections which will be held in early June of this year.