Madison Nguyen, wearing black athletic pants and tennis shoes, walks with her 12-year-old daughter Olivia Tran in scorching 93-degree heat, canvassing an East San Jose neighborhood across from Story Road. They coordinate reading out house numbers, before her daughter jogs down the street to convince residents to vote for her mom as the next Santa Clara County supervisor.
Nguyen is competing against Betty Duong for the open Board of Supervisors seat in District 2, with Cindy Chavez terming out. Nguyen and Duong were the top two contenders in the March primaries. Nguyen said it’s important her daughter sees her mom campaigning to become the first Vietnamese American supervisor in the county. She’s grateful her daughter can watch her pursuing politics rather than growing up as she did, living in Modesto in Section 8 housing eating copious amounts of government cheese.
“When I was her age, I was working in the fields with my parents,” Nguyen told San José Spotlight. “Now she’s walking precincts with me. In one generation, you can change that.”