Sukhee KangSukhee Kang

Former Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang is seeking a return to city government in District 1. Kang immigrated to the United States in 1977 and settled in Irvine in 1986. He was elected to the Irvine City Council in 2004 and became mayor in 2008, making history as the first Korean American mayor of a major U.S. city. From 2023 to 2025, Kang served as a presidential appointee in the Biden administration as a regional administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration. In that position, he oversaw regions covering the Pacific Rim, Northwest and Arctic and managed responsibilities involving more than 1,800 federal buildings, federal procurement, facilities and technology modernization. Kang’s campaign emphasizes preserving Irvine’s open space, developing new libraries and community centers, planting tens of thousands of trees, maintaining fiscal stability and strengthening public safety. His campaign also highlights his decades-long connection to Irvine and his experience at the city and federal levels.