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Joseph Cho

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Joseph Cho
Image of Joseph Cho
Elections and appointments
Last election

March 3, 2020

Personal
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Catholic
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Joseph Cho (Democratic Party) ran for election to the California State Senate to represent District 29. He lost in the primary on March 3, 2020.

Cho completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Cho was a Democratic candidate running to replace Josh Newman (D) in a recall election for California State Senate District 29.

Biography

Joseph Cho was born in Kyushu, Japan. He attended Seoul National University, California State University, Northridge, and Yanbian University. Cho’s career experience includes working as a teacher, computer operator, journalist, entrepreneur, and founder of a nonprofit.[1]

Elections

2020

See also: California State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for California State Senate District 29

Josh Newman defeated incumbent Ling Ling Chang in the general election for California State Senate District 29 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Josh Newman
Josh Newman (D)
 
51.3
 
214,456
Image of Ling Ling Chang
Ling Ling Chang (R)
 
48.7
 
203,762

Total votes: 418,218
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for California State Senate District 29

Incumbent Ling Ling Chang and Josh Newman defeated Joseph Cho in the primary for California State Senate District 29 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Ling Ling Chang
Ling Ling Chang (R)
 
47.4
 
98,687
Image of Josh Newman
Josh Newman (D)
 
33.5
 
69,732
Image of Joseph Cho
Joseph Cho (D) Candidate Connection
 
19.1
 
39,643

Total votes: 208,062
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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2018

See also: Josh Newman recall, California State Senate (2018)

An election to decide whether Josh Newman (D) should be recalled from his position representing California State Senate District 29 was held on June 5, 2018.

The candidates running to replace Newman were Kevin Carr (D), Ling Ling Chang (R), Joseph Cho (D), Josh Ferguson (D), George C. Shen (R), and Bruce Whitaker (R).[2]

Because a majority of voters chose to recall Newman, the replacement candidate with the most votes, Ling Ling Chang, won the seat.

Josh Newman recall, 2018
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Yes 58.1% 91,892
No 41.9% 66,197
Total Votes 158,089
Source: California Secretary of State


Josh Newman recall (replacement candidate), 2018
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Kevin Carr 8.6% 12,713
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Ling Ling Chang 33.8% 50,215
     Democratic Joseph Cho 21.4% 31,726
     Democratic Josh Ferguson 11.9% 17,745
     Republican George C. Shen 5.0% 7,442
     Republican Bruce Whitaker 19.3% 28,704
Total Votes 148,545
Source: California Secretary of State


Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Joseph Cho completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cho's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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I came to America with my wife in 1974, fleeing the dictatorship that was ruling South Korea at the time. I started out as a janitor and a gas station attendant, but eventually found a job with the Los Angeles Department of Data Processing where I was promoted from computer operator to assistant manager within three years (a record career advancement at the time). Sensing that my career with the Department hit a glass ceiling, I resigned and started my own business, a realty office.

The business was highly successful, but then in 1980 the dictatorship in South Korea committed a massacre in the town of Gwangju in which thousands of activists were killed. In response, I sold my business and started a publication to report from the US about the atrocities of the South Korean dictatorship that the South Korean media was unable to report. My efforts came to fruition in 1987 when Democracy was established in South Korea.

I then started a new business, which was also successful. After retirement, I went back to school to obtain a PhD. degree, ran and won a seat on a city council, and founded a non-profit foundation.

  • Fully fund our public education system
  • Work to transition our economy from fossil fuels to renewable energy
  • Affordable healthcare for all
I am passionate about finding peace on the Korean Peninsula. If we cannot establish peace on the Korean Peninsula, we may end up in a nuclear war. Now that North Korea has nuclear weapons with the ICBMs that can hit any target in the US, I fear that such a war could end up with hundreds of millions dead on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, peace on the Korean Peninsula will usher in a new era of economic prosperity as it will take enormous resources to rebuild North Korea. With California being the gateway to Asia, California could greatly benefit from this era of economic prosperity, to the point that the center of power in our country would shift from New York an Washington to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Barack Obama. He broke through the color barrier and against all the odds won the presidency. He first had to defeat the overwhelmingly favorite candidate for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton. After defeating Clinton, he had to defeat a popular war hero to become our country's first African American president. I'm sure even he himself did not think he had much of a chance at winning.
To better get to know me, you can download and read my autobiography from my website www.JosephCho4StateSenate.com (direct link at http://josephcho4statesenate.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/My-Calling-Joseph-Cho-Autobiography-1.pdf
I believe the role of government is to provide basic services and help those in need. If every person had to completely depend on themselves for roads, education, healthcare, security, etc, only the top 1% would be able to live good and comfortable lives. This is why these basic services have to be provided to the entire population. Additionally, people do fall on hard times, and it is the government's role to provide assistance to help people get out of the hole.
Listen to constituents' concerns and be able to find solutions to their problems.
I would like to be remembered for having done good deeds for humanity. While I am proud to have had a role in bringing democracy to South Korea, I believe there is still more work that can be done. The Korean War never ended. Fighting only came to a halt in 1953 with an armistice agreement, but the war never ended. I want to work towards bringing that war to an end. To that end, I founded the non-profit foundation KUSPI (Korea-US Peace Institute).
Doctor Zhivago.

It's a very intricate book about a very important time period in human history.
I like Superman because he uses his immense power to help the world
I have had major financial struggles in my life. I came to America with nothing but the shirt on my back with no job arrangements. I had to work as a gas station attendant and a janitor.

In the 1980's, as I was battling the dictatorship ruling over South Korea, I nearly went into bankruptcy. In fact, the only reason I did not file for bankruptcy was that I could not afford the $20,000 filing fee.

During those tough economic times I had to go without health insurance and it was a major source of stress.
There is very little difference between the two chambers other than a bill requires 41 votes in the California State Assembly and 21 votes in the State Senate. California and Texas are unique in that they have fewer state senators than representatives in the US House of Representatives. Therefore, the constituency for a California State Senate is larger than that of a US Representative from California
Experience is always beneficial, but there is a good reason why it's not required. It's good to have people from different backgrounds. Therefore, it's good to have a mixture of both people with prior government experience and people different previous experience.
Maintaining our growth. Being the largest state, we have to grow much more in order to maintain our proportion to the rest of the United States. For example, from 2010 to 2019 the State's population grew by 2.3 million, people yet we are still forecasted to lose a congressional seat as a result of the 2020 Census.
It's important to work together to make sure that the bills arriving on the governor's desk get signed, rather than vetoed.
It is absolutely essential to build good relationships. I will be one of 40 California State Senators.
That's putting the cart before the horse. I first have to win office and then determine which committees I'd prefer to serve (and not be guaranteed placement on those committees).
That's putting the cart before the horse. I first have to win office and only then determine if and how I'd like to join the leadership team
There have been many bright and shining state legislators. Each is unique and different. I guarantee that I will be different from any past or future legislator, which is why I would not model myself after anybody else, and I would discourage anybody else from modeling themselves after me.
As Bill Clinton once said, "you don't look past the next election, because you might not get to pass the next election". I first have to win this election before I can make such a decision.
I hear of a lot of stories of people who barely make ends meet to pay the rent and child care, or have to go without health insurance. It is unfortunately not uncommon.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. ’’Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 9, 2020’’
  2. California Secretary of State, "Certified List of Candidates," accessed May 2, 2018


Current members of the California State Senate
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