Janet Nguyen
| Janet Nguyen | |
|---|---|
| Member of the California State Senate from the 34th district |
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Assumed office December 1, 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Lou Correa |
| Member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from the 1st District |
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In office March 27, 2007 – December 1, 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Lou Correa |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Do |
| Member of the Garden Grove City Council | |
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In office December 14, 2004 – March 27, 2007 |
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| Preceded by | Van Tran |
| Succeeded by | Steve Jones |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 1, 1976 Saigon, Vietnam |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Tom Bonikowski, Jr. |
| Children | Thomas III and Timothy |
Janet Q. Nguyen (born May 1, 1976) is an American politician currently serving in the California State Senate. She is a Republican representing the 34th district, encompassing parts of Long Beach and Orange County. She is the first Vietnamese-American state senator in the United States and the country's first Vietnamese-American woman state legislator.
Prior to being elected to the state senate, she was an Orange County Supervisor, representing the First District. At the age of 30, she was the youngest person to be elected to the board of supervisors, the first woman to be elected from the First District, and the first Vietnamese-American county supervisor in the United States.
She won her supervisor seat following a historic special election where two Vietnamese-American candidates received half of the total votes cast in a field of 10, separated from each other by only 7 votes. She was sworn in on March 27, 2007, after a lengthy court battle. She won a full, four-year term in 2008 in another historic election when all three major candidates were Vietnamese Americans. She was reelected to a third term in 2012.
Prior to her election to the Board of Supervisors, she served as a Garden Grove City Council Member and at age 28, was the youngest person ever elected to that body.
Nguyen was born in Saigon, Vietnam, on May 1, 1976, roughly one year after the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Her family joined millions of others in becoming boat people when she was five, coming to California in 1981. They first lived in San Bernardino, but settled in Garden Grove in early 1990s. She attended the University of California, Irvine, at first to become a doctor but later majored in political science after she was inspired by then-Supervisor Bill Steiner. She is married to Tom Bonikowski, Jr., with whom she has two sons, Thomas III and Timothy.
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