Tammy Kim

Tammy Kim
Member of the Irvine City Council
In office
December 8, 2020 – December 10, 2024
Personal details
Born (1971-01-16) January 16, 1971
Seoul, Third Republic of South Korea
PartyDemocratic
Children1
Korean name
Hangul
김태미
Hanja
金太美
RRGim Taemi
MRKim T'aemi

Tammy Kim (born January 16, 1971) is an American politician and nonprofit executive. She was a member of the Irvine City Council in California from 2020 to 2024.[1][2] Kim was an elected member of the Central Committee for the Democratic Party in Orange County representing California's 73rd State Assembly district.

In February 2023, Kim announced that she would be running as a candidate for the 2024 Irvine mayoral election.[3] she subsequently lost her race for Mayor to Larry Agran. Tammy Kim was charged with ten felonies and one misdemeanor by the Orange County District Attorney in May 2025 relating to residency discrepancies while Kim was on Council and attempting to run in a special election to get back onto city council.[4]

Biography

Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated with her family to the United States as an infant in 1971, eventually settling in Flint, Michigan where she spent her youth.[5] Her family moved to Baltimore, Maryland right after her high school graduation[6] and attended Michigan State University. Kim moved to Los Angeles in 1997 and then to Orange County in 2002. She settled in Irvine in 2005 with her son.[5]

Career

Early career

After moving to California in 1997, Kim spent the next several years working for companies[6] including VMWare, EMC Corporation and CA Technologies, where she was VP of Global Talent Acquisition.[7]

Nonprofit work

In 2015, Kim founded the Korean American Center, an Irvine based nonprofit organization with a mission to help intergenerational Korean Americans connect with the greater community. In 2017, the Korean American Center began the process of merging with Korean Community Services, becoming one of the largest nonprofit organizations in Orange County serving the Asian American Pacific Islander community.[8] In 2018, the Korean American Center received designation as the Irvine King Sejong Institute by the South Korean government and was awarded a STARTALK grant by the National Security Agency for teaching Korean.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

Political career

Kim has been a supporter of various social issues regarding immigrants, working families, and under-represented linguistically isolated communities.[15][16] She served as Chair of the Language Access Committee for the Orange County Registrar of Voters,[17][15] Board Member of the Korean American Democratic Committee,[18][19] and co-founder of Asian Americans in Action.[5][16][20]

In 2020, Kim was elected to the Orange County Democratic Party Central Committee and Southern California Chair for the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus for the California Democratic Party in March 2021.[21][22][23] In March 2024, Kim was re-elected to serve a four-year term on the Orange County Democratic Party Central Committee for the 73rd Assembly District.[24]

Irvine City Council

On November 3, 2020 Kim was elected to the Irvine City Council as a first time candidate.[25][26] Kim was sworn in on December 8, 2020 and later that month she was appointed by the City Council to serve a 1 year term as Vice Mayor and reappointed in 2022 to serve a second term.[2][27] In 2024, she ran for mayor, but lost, finishing in second place with 34% of the vote.[28]

Asian American advocacy

Prior to her election to the Irvine City Council, Kim participated in the Asian American political movement in Orange County. Her election coincided with the rise of Anti-Asian hate in the United States. Kim brought awareness to "the intersection of racism and misogyny" after the Atlanta spa shootings.[29][30]

Kim was the subject of a xenophobic attack that was directed to her at a city council meeting in October 2021.[31][32][33][34]

In January 2025, Kim's eligibility to run in the Irvine City Council District 5 special election was challenged in Orange County Superior Court. Former Irvine mayoral candidate Ron Scolesdang filed a petition seeking to have Kim removed from the ballot, alleging that she did not reside in District 5 and had improperly registered to vote and declared her candidacy using a District 5 address. The petition relied in part on a private investigator's report concerning Kim's residence and activities at addresses in Districts 3 and 5.[35] Kim denied that she had violated residency requirements and maintained that she was eligible to run in District 5. Her attorneys disputed the interpretation of the evidence presented by Scolesdang's attorneys and argued that the burden of proof had not been met.[36]

On February 7, 2025, an Orange County Superior Court judge granted the petition and ordered the Orange County Registrar of Voters to remove Kim's name from the ballot. Kim had announced her withdrawal from the special-election race before the court's ruling.[37] Kim said her withdrawal was not an admission that she was ineligible and stated that she believed she met the residency requirements for the seat.[38]

In May 2025, the Orange County District Attorney's Office announced that Kim had been charged with ten felonies and one misdemeanor arising from allegations concerning her residency, voter registration, voting, and election filings. Prosecutors alleged that Kim had used a District 5 address on official documents despite actually residing in District 3, voted in the November 2024 election as a District 5 resident, and subsequently filed nomination papers using District 5 addresses while seeking to run in the 2025 special election. The charges included three counts of perjury by declaration, three counts involving the filing or procurement of false documents, and charges relating to voter registration, voting by a person not entitled to vote, and fraudulent nomination papers.[37]

According to the district attorney, Kim changed her California driver's license and voter registration to a District 5 address in May 2024. Prosecutors alleged that the address belonged to a family whom Kim had met through a Korean-language teaching class and that the family was unaware that she was using their address on official documents. Prosecutors further alleged that in January 2025 Kim paid a $400 deposit for a room at another District 5 residence, changed her driver's registration to that address, and filed revised nomination paperwork using the new address.[37] These allegations have not been established as facts by a criminal conviction.

Kim pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. In 2025 and early 2026, her attorneys pursued mental-health pretrial diversion under California law. In March 2026, a court granted Kim admission to a mental-health diversion program. Successful completion of the program could result in dismissal of the criminal charges; the grant of diversion did not itself constitute a conviction or an adjudication that the allegations were true.[39]

Electoral history

City of Irvine, Mayor – November 5, 2024

General election for City of Irvine, Mayor (1 seat)[25][1]
Candidate Votes %
✓ Larry Agran 42,652 38.8%
Tammy Kim 37,924 34.5%
Ron Scolesdang 12,891 11.7%
Lee Sun 6,001 5.5%
Felipe Delgado 5,325 4.8%
Akshat "AB" Bhatia 2,761 2.5%
Wing Chow 2,496 2.3%

Irvine City Council – November 3, 2020

General election for Irvine City Council (3 seats)[25][1]
Candidate Votes %
✓ Tammy Kim 43,744 14.8%
✓ Mike Carroll* 38,615 13.1%
✓ Larry Agran 38,156 12.9%
Lauren Johnson-Norris 37,931 12.8%
John Park 32,521 11.0%
Carrie O'Malley 27,440 9.3%
Mark Newgent 15,894 5.4%
Diana Jiang 14,837 5.0%
Laura Bratton 10.305 3.5%
Dylan Green 8,813 3.0%
Christina Dillard 8,321 2.8%
Anshul Garg 6,420 2.2%
Abigail Pole 6,406 2.2%
Hai Yang Liang 5,944 2.0%

*Incumbent

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tammy Kim". Ballotpedia.
  2. 1 2 "Vice Mayor Tammy Kim". City of Irvine. 13 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "Irvine Councilmember Tammy Kim announces mayoral run". Orange County Register. February 3, 2023. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Former Irvine City Councilmember Tammy Kim Charged with Multiple Felonies for Lying about Her Residency while Serving on City Council, Running for Mayor". Orange County DA. May 22, 2025. Retrieved June 6, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 "Korean American Perspectives | Season 3: Episode 3 with Tammy Kim". Council Korean Americans (CKA). 2021-03-29. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
  6. 1 2 "Tammy Kim".
  7. ↑ "Tammy Kim". Linked In.
  8. ↑ "코리안 복지센터·한미문화센터 "이젠 한가족". Korea Times.
  9. ↑ "어바인 OC한미문화센터 '스타토크' 시행 기관 2년 연속 선정". Korea Daily. February 16, 2019.
  10. ↑ "STARTALK Programs".
  11. ↑ "한국어·한류문화 전파 거점될 것". Korea Daily.
  12. ↑ "South Korean government helps fund Irvine language institute". Los Angeles Times. July 26, 2018.
  13. ↑ "At a Korea-sponsored school, Americans learn the language with K-pop, dramas and more". NBC News America. October 8, 2018.
  14. ↑ "South Korean government selects Irvine's Korean American Center to teach language program". Orange County Register. 2018-07-13.
  15. 1 2 "Fearing deportation, Asian immigrants in America obtain U.S. citizenship". Los Angeles Times. 2017-12-22.
  16. 1 2 "Coronavirus backlash triggers wave of progressive activism from Asian Americans in Orange County". Orange County Register. 2020-07-19.
  17. ↑ "CEW Members | OC Vote". www.ocvote.com.
  18. ↑ Mai-Duc, Christine (2018-11-02). "Asian Americans hold the key to victory in this Orange County district, and Democrat Gil Cisneros knows it". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
  19. ↑ "Board". Korean American Democratic Committee.
  20. ↑ Widyatmadja, Grace (2021-03-15). "Rise in Hate Incidents Against Asian Americans Sparks Calls for Solidarity". Fullerton Observer.
  21. ↑ "Election Results Archives | OC Vote". ocvote.com.
  22. ↑ "태미 김 '날개' 달았다". Korea Daily. March 12, 2020.
  23. ↑ "2021-2023 Executive Board". Asian Pacific Islander Caucus. 12 September 2019.
  24. ↑ "Central Committee Members". Democratic Party of Orange County.
  25. 1 2 3 "City of Irvine Municipal Election History 1971 to Present". Municipal Election History 1971 to Present: 1.
  26. ↑ "2020 Election Night Results: Irvine Mayoral and City Council Race". Voice of OC. November 3, 2020.
  27. ↑ "태미 김, 어바인 부시장 됐다…2020년 이어 2번째 선출". Koreadaily - 미주중앙일보 (in Korean). 2022-12-15. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  28. ↑ "2024 Presidential General Election results".
  29. ↑ "Wording of Anti-Asian Hate Resolution in Irvine Prompts Hard Debate Among Local Democrats". Voice of OC. April 26, 2021.
  30. ↑ "한인법률가들 "애틀랜타 총격범 혐오범죄 기소 가능"". Voice of America. March 25, 2021.
  31. ↑ Dani, Anguiano (2021-11-13). "'I am an American': how a city official stood firm against an anti-Asian attack". The Guardian UK.
  32. ↑ "Column: Are diversifying suburbs like Irvine ready for a conversation about race?". Los Angeles Times. 2021-12-10.
  33. ↑ ""누구 덕에 미국땅 밟았는데" 美참전용사, 한국계 시의원 인종차". Now News Korea. Oct 31, 2021.
  34. ↑ Kwon, Min Chul 권민철 (Nov 3, 2021). ""미국에 올만큼 운 좋았네" 한국계 정치인에 인종차별". CBS No Cut News (Korea).
  35. ↑ "Irvine District 5 Special Election: Tammy Kim's Residency Challenged by Ron Scolesdang". Irvine Watchdog. January 24, 2025.
  36. ↑ "Orange County Superior Court holds hearing on Tammy Kim's candidacy". New University. February 12, 2025.
  37. 1 2 3 "Former Irvine City Councilmember Tammy Kim Charged With Multiple Felonies" (PDF) (Press release). Orange County District Attorney's Office. May 22, 2025.
  38. ↑ "Tammy Kim exits District 5 race following residency challenge". New University. February 8, 2025.
  39. ↑ "Irvine: Tammy Kim Admitted To "Mental Diversion," May Dodge 10 Election Fraud Felonies". OC Independent. March 3, 2026.
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