Madison Nguyen

Madison Nguyen (; born January 10, 1975) is an American politician from California who served on the San Jose City Council from 2005 to 2014, representing District 7, and as Vice-Mayor of San Jose from 2011 to 2014. She was the first Vietnamese-American elected to the city council.

Nguyen previously served as the executive vice president of the Silicon Valley Organization, now known as the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.

Early life Nguyen was born in the beach city of Nha Trang, Vietnam, Nguyen and her family escaped Vietnam on a small fishing boat when she was four years old. Her family then settled in a refugee camp in Bataan, Philippines until a Lutheran church sponsored them to Scottsdale, Arizona. Her father worked as a janitor, receiving a stipend of only $500 a month to support his wife and children. Eventually, he moved his family to Modesto, California, in search of employment for his family in Patterson. Nguyen worked in the fields alongside her parents as a teenager. She obtained US citizenship after her 18th birthday, choosing the first name Madison after the character portrayed by Daryl Hannah in the 1984 movie Splash.

In 1997, Nguyen received her Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She received a master's degree from the University of Chicago. She returned to California in 2000 to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology at UC Santa Cruz. inspired by MTV's "Rock the Vote" campaign, she and members of the Vietnamese community organised a voter drive in which nearly 5,000 new voters registered to vote for the first time. She followed that up with a run for a position on the Franklin-McKinley School District Board of Education, hoping that her election would encourage Vietnamese Americans to get more involved in local politics. Her win made her one of the first two school board officials of Vietnamese descent in the United States. The other, elected around the same time, was Lan Nguyen of Garden Grove. However, it was Nguyen's organisation of protests in support of Bich Cau Thi Tran, a Vietnamese woman shot to death by a San Jose police constable that brought her to the forefront of people's minds in the Vietnamese American community. Nguyen, who felt the incident was being ignored by the public and the media, organised a rally to which nearly 300 people showed up.

City Council In September 2005, she ran for city council in a special election to replace Terry Gregory in District 7. Madison Nguyen won 44% of the primary vote, while Linda Nguyen, a real estate attorney, received 27%. In the run-off, Madison Nguyen received 62% of the votes cast, beating out Linda Nguyen to become the first Vietnamese American to serve on the San Jose's City Council.

Nguyen formally filed to run for mayor on December 19, 2012, becoming the second candidate to do so.

Per Mike Rosenberg of The Mercury News, Nguyen centered her candidacy heavily on her life story, with less emphasis on her record or policy positions. During her campaign, Rosenberg wrote that Nguyen, "has an inspiring rags-to-riches story stemming from her family’s escape from Vietnam and has built a coalition of supporters — especially the city’s large immigrant population — who see a rare politician they can connect with."

2016 State Assembly campaign In April 2015, Madison Nguyen announced her intention to run for California State Assembly District 27, an open seat being vacated by term-limited Nora Campos.[ circular reference] The primary election was in June 2016, followed by a November general election, which coincided with the next presidential contest. Nguyen began rolling out her campaign platform soon after her announcement. Her first significant proposal was to support a new University of California campus, and to locate it in San Jose. Her first notable endorsement came from San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. Other declared candidates included San Jose City Councillor Ash Kalra, Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Darcie Green, activist Cong Do, and Republican Van Le.

Madison won a decisive victory in the primary, with more than 11,000 more votes than her closest competitor.

Originally predicted to easily win the general election over Ash Kalra, she ultimately lost in an upset, in part after Kalra managed to run effective mailers focusing on police shortages in San Jose.

2024 Board of Supervisors Campaign In May 2023, Madison Nguyen announced her intention to run for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors District 2 seat, an open seat being vacated by term-limited Cindy Chavez. Her stated priorities for the Board of Supervisors included affordable housing, homelessness and public safety.

Nguyen placed second in the March 2024 primary behind Betty Duong, former chief of staff of supervisor Cindy Chavez.

Votes % Votes % Madison Nguyen

Linda Nguyen

Beth Gonzales

Ed Voss

Rudy Rodriguez

Timothy Lauwers

Mahealani

Andrew Abraham Diaz

Turnout

2010 San Jose City Council district 7 electionCandidateGeneral Election Runoff Election Votes%Votes% Madison Nguyen (incumbent) 4,578 41.33 7,625 54.33 Minh Duong 2,666 24.07 6,410 45.67 Patrick Phu Le 1,895 17.11 Rudy J. Rodriguez 1,586 14.32 Vietnam Nguyen 351 3.17 Total 11,076 100 14,035 100

San Jose mayor 2014 San Jose mayoral electionCandidateGeneral Election Runoff Election Votes%Votes% Sam Liccardo 33,521 25.75 91,840 50.76 Dave Cortese 43,887 33.72 89,090 49.24 Madison Nguyen 26,365 20.26 Pierluigi C. Oliverio 13,197 10.14 Rose Herrera 7,950 6.11 Mike Alvarado 1,959 1.51 Timothy Harrison 1,715 1.32 Bill Chew 1,563 1.20 Total 130,157 100 180,930 100

California state assembly

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors