Khanh Pham, the Oregon State House Representative for District 46, was born in Edmond, Oklahoma but moved with her family to Irvine, California at age eleven. After receiving her undergraduate degree from Lewis & Clark College, Pham went on to obtain a master’s degree in urban planning from Portland State University. Now, Pham enjoys moving between the worlds of community organizing, policy advocacy, research, and media/communications. A social activist and community leader, she has worked in the field of climate justice and served as the Organizing Director of OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon. She now acts as an Oregon state representative, the first Asian American to be elected to the House in almost a generation.

In her second interview, Pham begins by discussing what motivated her to run for election and the various issues she campaigned on, including economic and racial justice, fair housing, and health care. She goes on to speak about the eye-opening process of campaigning for office, especially in the midst of a pandemic, and how she learned to find shared values and common ground with her diverse constituents. Pham also speaks to what it means to be the first Asian American elected to the House of Representatives in fifteen years and the challenges and exciting potential of bringing new representative voices to the state legislature. Pham concludes the interview by speaking about important issues in the Vietnamese community today and how her Vietnmese American heritage will affect her role as a state representative.