State Treasurer John Chiang may still be relatively unknown to voters in his quest to be California’s next governor, but he’s scheduled to tour the Long Beach area Saturday, meeting with several past and present Democratic elected officials and members of party groups and visiting the city’s Cambodia Town.
In Cambodia Town, Chiang — whose name is pronounced “Chung,” — said he plans to “to walk their streets and discuss the past, present, and future.”
Chiang is also scheduled to attend the Long Beach Democratic Women’s Club annual barbecue and meet with Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, former Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster and Councilman Al Austin in Long Beach and state Democratic Party delegates in Artesia.
The tour is part of a yearlong gubernatorial campaign road trip that began in Boyle Heights on June 6, one day short of a year before the primary election.
Chiang is among four Democrats who have announced their candidacies for governor, along with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin.
The announced Republican candidates are Rancho Santa Fe venture capitalist John Cox and Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach.
They all want to replace Gov. Jerry Brown who will be termed out of office after eight years in his second stint as governor.
If elected, Chiang would be the state’s first Asian-American governor.
Chiang was elected state treasurer in 2014 after two terms as controller. He was first elected to the Board of Equalization in 1998. He began his career as a tax law specialist with the Internal Revenue Service and later was an attorney in the State Controller’s Office.
—City News Service