California GOP Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel, both of Korean descent, have pulled their endorsements of Sery Kim, a candidate in the race to replace Ron Wright in Texas’ 6th Congressional District.
Kim, a Korean immigrant who worked in former President Donald Trump’s administration, confirmed Friday that she had lost the backing of the trailblazing Korean members of the U.S. House.
During an Arlington forum Wednesday, Kim had criticized Chinese immigrants.
“I don’t want them here at all,” she said. “They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable.”
She added: “Quite frankly, I can say that because I’m Korean.”
After her comments went viral, Kim explained that she had been criticizing the Chinese government. Kim has been flooded with criticism, as well as social media posts that threaten and mock her.
On Thursday, in a statement to CNN, the lawmakers of Korean descent called Kim’s comments “hurtful.”
“Sery’s comments were unacceptable and hurtful, especially at a time when hate targeting the (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) community is on the rise, and we made that clear to her today,” Young Kim and Steel said in a statement to CNN.
On Friday, after losing the endorsement of the two, Sery Kim said she “would not back down from speaking the truth about this perpetrator of genocide.”
“It is indisputable that, even here in a congressional race for Texas 06, the Chinese Communist Party is the foremost threat to the free world,” she said in a text message.
Kim, who was not well known before this week, is part of a 23-person field in the May 1 special election to replace Wright, who died in February after battling COVID-19 and cancer. The district includes Arlington, as well as Ellis and Navarro counties.
Kim served as assistant administrator in the Office of Women’s Business Ownership at the Small Business Administration under Trump and has sought the former president’s endorsement.
