By Vaishnavi Josyula
Like many recent college graduates in the Bay Area, MHS alum Alex Lee lives at home in the same bedroom as he did in high school. However, the twenty-five year old, who graduated with the Class of 2013, is poised to be the next representative of District 25 in the California State Assembly.
If elected, Lee, who has been endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, will be “the youngest state legislator in almost a century and the first openly bisexual state legislator in California history,” according to his website. In an interview on Zoom, he spoke about developing his leadership skills in high school and college.
“At MHS, I was an officer for the Chinese Club as well as the Milpitas Art and Design Club,” Lee said. “At UC Davis, I was the student body president of the school there as well as a student senator prior to that,” he said. “I’ve always, I think even at a young age, had experience with leadership and understanding how to represent my peers. I think it’s foundational to who I am today.”
Lee recalled being an average student at MHS. He had decent grades and still remembers hanging out at the yellow tables between classes, he said.
His favorite classes were AP World History and English because “we got to learn more about human stories,” he said in an email interview. Lee listed Mr. Wrencher, Mrs. Bielski, Mrs. Roy, Mr. Roy, and Mr. Colburn as some of his favorite teachers. “They were all incredibly knowledgeable, passionate, and super chill,” he added.
When asked about his future plans while he was in high school, Lee said he did not think he would ever be running for office. However, he was inspired by the 2012 reelection campaign of Barack Obama in the fall of his senior year, he said.
“I was deciding among a lot of things, including working in the film and TV industry,” Lee said. “Ultimately, I think the (Obama) campaign sparked the interest in me, so I decided to pursue politics and government as an educational field as well as a career choice,” he said.
MHS influenced his outlook and politics, Lee said. As a product of public schools from elementary school to college, he believes funding public education is important so others have the same opportunities he had, he said. Students at MHS are very fortunate because of the school’s diversity, he added.
“Sometimes we take it for granted that MHS is the complete microcosm of our community,” Lee said. “We have a very diverse school, not just in race and beliefs, but also in socioeconomic status and that is a great outlook and great experience because then we witness how other people live diversely… and that’s how I think society really should be. It shouldn’t be like circles of people who have the same income or same education or same race.”
Since graduating from college, Lee has worked in positions that make him the best candidate to represent District 25, he said. He worked as a legislative policy advisor in both the state assembly and the state senate where he helped write and pass bills, he said.
“The legislative process is something that is not new to me, and I understand how policy-making already works,” Lee said. When asked about what else makes him stand out, Lee said, “I’m the youngest candidate, but I’m also the most progressive and clear about where I stand on the issues as well as how to solve them,” he said. “A lot of politics … is a lot of generalities. People say, ‘We want better schools,’ or ‘We want this thing or a nice environment,’ but very few politicians are able to understand how to do these things or what the steps are to do it, and I think in our campaign we were able to do so.”
One of Lee’s priorities is to take corporate money out of politics. His campaign is not accepting any money from corporations, the fossil fuel industry, or police unions, he said. He also emphasized his desire to reform the criminal justice system. Black and Brown communities suffer more violence from police, courts, and prisons, he said.
“We need to first demilitarize the police, make them less of a militarized occupying force that is more prone to violence,” Lee said. “[We also need to make] sure that the court system is more fair, and the prison systems are really dismantled, so that people aren’t just locked up for life.”
A primary factor in Lee’s decision to run for office was the housing crisis, he said. He is an advocate for building more affordable housing and protecting working-class families and renters from rising housing prices, he added.
“It’s so hard to afford to live in our home community, where a lot of people get pushed out, or they move somewhere else, or they’re really struggling to afford to live here,” Lee said. “[The] housing crisis is something that really affects me personally and I’m passionate about, and that’s why I chose to run, because the state is where we can make a lot of difference.”
Since most of one’s income goes to housing costs, he wants to make sure that Milpitas and Bay Area high schoolers can afford to come back to their hometown after college or for a job, Lee said.
“Making sure you have financial and housing stability is going to be key,” Lee said. “Secondly, I’m going to be investing a lot, or I’m hopefully pushing the state to invest a lot more in education from the K-12 level to the university level. My goal is to make it so that we have tuition-free college in California again, which we effectively had back in the 60s and 70s, which we can achieve again. (I want to make sure) that the housing opportunities are there and educational opportunities are all accessible for MHS students.”
If Lee wins the election next week, there’s a good chance he will move out of his parents’ home soon and MHS students will benefit from Lee’s policies and have the chance to move out of their parents’ house one day as well.
