158: Evan Low on Being an Uber #YangGang, Identity Politics, and Bridging Tech and Policy

Evan Low (@evan_low) California Assemblymember and national co-chair of Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign talks with Kevin Xu (@kevinsxu) about what it means to be a national co-chair, why he entered electoral politics at a young age, how to navigate identity politics and intersectionality, and the importance of bridging the divide between technology innovators and policymakers.

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Transcript (note: this is machine generated and lightly edited. Please check with audio to confirm accuracy.)

Kevin: Evan, welcome to the Model Majority Podcast today. 

Evan: Great to chat with you, Kevin. 

Kevin: All right, so to get things started, I want to begin our conversation with your involvement with Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign. Even though he has already dropped out, I think the experience is very much worth talking about.

Could you just share with our audience what was the backstory? How did you get involved in his campaign and eventually becoming its national co-chair? 

Evan: Well, as you can imagine. This is quite the excitement with respect to history being made with Andrew’s candidacy and what he has built for not only the present, but for the future.

And so by way of background,  I was, I’m fourth generation Chinese American, born and raised in Silicon Valley.  but I always had a commitment to our community. And in fact, I was in a master’s program in Asian American studies, hoping to teach Asian American studies. So this sense of  engagement for the community is of course, very important to me.

And so I had served on a city council in the city of Campbell and as mayor for eight years, and then now currently serving in the state legislature,  in the state assembly representing Silicon Valley. So, when we talk about the notion of Asian Pacific Islanders contributing to the fabric of American society.

Certainly you can see the excitement and energy in which you see someone like Andrew on the national stage,  representing our community well and transcending, so many different communities, which brings us great excitement. And so I too was energized by that opportunity to which, you know, growing up, Kevin, I remember many a times in which I would watch TV.

And if even if I saw an Asian face on TV , it’s that one commercial, I would sort of pause or say like, Oh, is that an Asian face? Who is that? Someone that looks like me! And so has seen someone that has laid the foundation and said, well, they too can run for president and become president of these United States.

That’s inspiring to me. And so,  how could I not be part of this movement, continuously to make sure that we also are part of the conversation at the national stage.  

Kevin: What was your first contact or first exposure to his campaign? Was it on a podcast or did you happen to meet him at an event?