Jay Chen, United States Representative, California's 45th Congressional District
/Jay Chen is running for Congress in California's 45th congressional district, one of the most competitive races in the country. Nearly 20% of the voting population is of Vietnamese descent. Jay is a Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy Reserves with 7th Fleet, an elected community college trustee, and small business owner. After graduating from Harvard University and studying and working in Latin America and Asia, he joined a global strategy consulting firm where he worked extensively with Fortune 500 companies in the software and logistics industries to manage mergers, build new products, and streamline operations before returning home and starting his own local real estate business. He then returned home to run for his local school board, where he assisted students by providing free college application seminars, free SAT courses, and dual-language immersion programs. In 2015 he was elected to the Mt. San Antonio College Board of Trustees where he is now overseeing one of the largest education infrastructure projects in Southern California. In 2020, Lieutenant Commander Chen was deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, where he headed an intelligence unit combatting the terrorist group ISIS, and played a significant role in the Central Command's response to the Covid-19 outbreak in the Middle East.