4/13/2008 - I'm going to Denver!

Thank you for supporting me in my bid for the sole Obama delegate position in Congressional District 38. I managed to turn out 85 of the 121 votes cast, for 70% of the vote. I look forward to supporting Barack Obama in August and November, and will be encouraging others to do the same. Our country, our students, and our children will all be better off with Barack Obama as our next President. For a full list of delegates, click here. The World Journal has a brief article and photo regarding my win in Chinese.

My testimonial, as seen on Barack Obama's website:

The right man, the right time

Generations from today, we will look back upon 2008 as the year our country not just awoke from a national nightmare of bankrupt leadership and ethical lapses, but the instance at which a shackle of our past was broken and another step taken towards filling the promise that has made our country great; that we are all created equal. That the mantle of leadership in this country is not reserved only for those who look like our founding fathers is probably not exactly what our founding fathers had originally envisioned. Nevertheless this implication of equality is what has made our nation of immigration not just successful, but a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. It is this hope which inspired my parents and thousands of others to leave Taiwan to create a new life in America. And it is this creed of equality that has allowed the son of a Kenyan goat-herder and Kansan mother to make the convincing case to me and a growing number of Americans that he is the singular candidate for President.

Never before has our nation been in greater need of a leader that can affirm that our nation's best years are yet to come. Never before has the world been in greater need of an America that leads through inspiration rather than dictation. It is of course absolutely unfair to ask that any one man or woman undo the wreckage caused by the current administration. Our Constitution is in tatters. While we burn hundreds of billions overseas on a war against the Muslim world that never should have been waged, New Orleans and inner cities in our own country continue their decay, in lock step with our education system.

While he isn't the magic bullet, in light of how far our nation has fallen and how quickly he may be able to help us recover, it is easy to mistake Barack Obama for being one. If there was ever a time that we needed to elect an African American constitutional law professor, who understands the Muslim world not through faulty intelligence reports but from having actually lived there, it is now. If there was ever a time we needed a leader who had the clarity to oppose the Iraq War before it began, and who does not attribute that decision to clairvoyance but to common sense, it is now. If there was ever a time that we needed a President who made a conscious choice to spend his formative years empowering and organizing less fortunate communities instead of building his own wealth, it is now. And if there was ever a time that we needed to reaffirm America's place in the world as a beacon of hope and positive change, by electing to the highest office in the land a man whose unencumbered right to vote is even younger than he is, it is now. To borrow an oft-used but wholly appropriate phrase, there has never been a more a fierce urgency of now, and there has never been a greater need in the nation or world for Barack Obama.

Jay Chen is the newest member of Southern California's Hacienda-La Puente Unified School District Board of Education, and was elected with the top vote in 2007.

Parts of my statement at the AAPI Leaders for Obama Press Conference, held in Los Angeles earlier this year:

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4/3/2008 - Help me become the Obama delegate representing our district at the Democratic National Convention!

I am running to be a pledged delegate for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in August. If you live in Congresswoman Napolitano's district, please come out to Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights at 2 pm on April 13th to support me in my bid to become Obama's representative in the 38th district!

The 38th Congressional District includes Norwalk, Pomona, Santa Fe Springs, the City of Industry, Montebello, Pico Rivera, Avocado Heights, La Puente, Hacienda Heights, West Puente Valley and parts of East Los Angeles, Whittier, Rowland Heights, South San Gabriel, Valinda, and other unincorporated areas. Please use the links posted below to see if you are in my district.

Voting will begin at 2 pm at the Los Altos High School gym (15325 Los Robles Ave, Hacienda Hts, CA 91745), and doors will shut at 3 pm. You don't have to stay the entire time; just come, vote, and you can leave! Any registered Democrat can vote, and you can register or re-register on-site as well. If you will turn 18 by November 4th, 2008, you can register and vote on-site.

Given the close nature of this historic race, it is imperative that we send truly committed Obama delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. It does not appear that either candidate will have the votes needed to wrap up the nomination by the convention, so the decision will be made at the convention. We need to make sure that all Obama delegates stand firmly in Obama's column and will work hard to deliver the nomination to the candidate who has earned the most delegates and most popular support in the Democratic party.

I was a committed Obama supporter even before he surprised the establishment with his first primary wins in January. Since then I have utilized my fluent Chinglish to become a proud and unofficial spokesperson for Obama in the Chinese press; I have appeared in TV interviews on Channel 18 and Skylink TV, and have also promoted Obama in the Chinese World Journal and Sing Tao newspapers. I also appeared in a video with other API leaders supporting Obama, which is featured on his homepage.

As a delegate, you can count on me to not only fully support Obama at the convention, but to also represent the interests and concerns of the diverse San Gabriel Valley, and to work on ways to build more support for Obama in our community. Please support me in my bid for Delegate so that we can change the face of politics as we know it!