Sokhary Chau

Sokhary Chau (pronuniciation: So-Ka-Ree Chao) is a Cambodian born American politician. In 2022, the City Council of Lowell, Massachusetts elected him to become the next mayor, becoming the first person of Cambodian descent to serve as a mayor in the United States. On April 17, 1975, his father was executed by the Khmer Rouge when Dictator Pol Pot, stormed into Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.

Much of his early childhood was spent in extreme hardship and fear, almost losing two of his brothers to executions. Despite these circumstances, his family escaped Cambodia in 1979 under the cover of night through land mine laced jungles to a Thai refugee camp. As a child, he attended Lowell Public Schools and Phillips Academy, graduating in 1992.

Political/Business Career He was elected to a 2-year term on Lowell City Council in 2019 and re-elected in 2021.

Members of the City Council appointed him Mayor of Lowell in January 2022.

In November 2023, he announced that he would run for the Middlesex County Register of Deeds seat that will become vacant in 2024.