Advocate for overcoming apathy

Alicia Robinson

A Vietnamese immigrant who came to California as a child, Tan D.

Nguyen said he wants to bring new ideas to Washington, D.C. as a

representative of the state.

Nguyen will contend with Jim Brandt and Paul C. Wilkins on March 2

to be the Democratic party’s candidate for the 46th Congressional

District seat in November.

After arriving in the U.S. in 1981, Nguyen and his family earned a

living as migrant farm workers, picking chile peppers, string beans

and whatever else was growing around San Jose, where they settled.

That experience as a child helped shape the person he is today,

Nguyen said.

He drew on a strong work ethic when he entered the business world

as a young adult, taking time off from college to open a Vietnamese

restaurant with friends in Minnesota. At the restaurant, he did any

and every job, from cooking and cleaning to management, sometimes

working 16-hour days.

“I’ve always had a business mind,” he said. “I have that

entrepreneurial spirit and I like to be my own boss.”

Once Nguyen received his bachelor’s degree, he got married and

moved to San Marcos, where he turned a personal interest in the stock

market into a career as an investment advisor.

Helping people achieve investment goals is one of several ways

Nguyen has reached out to others, he said. During college, he

cofounded an organization that offered young people alternatives to

gangs, and he volunteered for a hospice program while in Minnesota.

As an immigrant himself, he said, he knows opportunities are

abundant in America, and he wants to make sure they are available to

everyone.

Although he hasn’t held elected office before, Nguyen said, that’s

not a liability.

“I’m young, but I’m energetic and I’m passionate,” Nguyen said.

“I hope that my candidacy will inspire other young people to be

more aware and to participate in our political process,” he said.

“There’s a lot of apathy out there, and I hope that my candidacy will

change that.”