Ellen Lee Zhou (Chinese: 李愛晨; pinyin: Lǐ Àichén; US: /dʒoʊ/)[1] is a Chinese American politician, social worker and candidate for the office of mayor of San Francisco in the 2019 San Francisco mayoral election. Zhou also ran in the 2018 San Francisco mayoral special election,[2] receiving 4.28% of the vote.[3] Zhou is a Republican, and she previously ran as an independent politician.[4][5] Zhou is seen as a long-shot candidate[6] which will require a "miracle" to win the race.[7]
Political positions
editAccording to the San Francisco Chronicle, Zhou's "rhetoric and sometimes vaguely outlined policy positions skew conservative".[6] Zhou is a supporter of increased gun ownership and is a member of the US National Rifle Association.[8] Zhou is a supporter of Donald Trump,[9] and her campaign website includes the slogan "Make America Great Again" within its meta description tag,[10] having told Ballotpedia "I believe those who obstructed the federal agents to enforce immigration laws became traitors of the people."[11] Zhou has likewise demonstrated in front of City Hall in support of a border wall.[12]
Zhou is anti-marijuana abuse,[9] and believes that San Francisco's drug policies are too lax and encourage homeless people to come to San Francisco.[13]
Featured prominently on her website are her interviews and appearance in a documentary critical of San Francisco's policies produced by YouTuber Stefan Molyneux.[10] Zhou has at times endorsed conspiracy theories, such as that the crime statistics in San Francisco are incorrect,[14] and that there is widespread electoral fraud in San Francisco.[15][16]
After saying "Most of those who attack Chinese are African-American. I don't blame the African American community, but this is a social issue. Mayor Breed [has] avoided talking about these social issues" at a demonstration she organized against what she claimed was a string of crimes by African and Latino Americans specifically targeting Asian Americans,[14] Zhou was accused of "[fueling] racial bias and [creating] tension" in an opinion piece in the San Francisco Examiner.[17]
Personal life
editZhou is an immigrant to the United States from rural Taishan, Guangdong, China.[18] She was born in 1969 and moved to Chinatown, San Francisco in 1986 when she was 17.[9] In 2003, she completed a master's degree in social work from San Francisco State University.[18] Zhou is a Christian;[11] as of 2005 she was married and had two children.[18]
References
edit- ^ "華裔李愛晨宣布以共和黨籍參選舊金山市長選舉" [Chinese American Ellen Lee Zhou announces she will run as a Republican to be the next mayor of San Francisco]. KTSF (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2018-12-28. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Fracassa, Dominic (2018-01-10). "Supervisors Breed and Kim in race for SF mayor for real now; Herrera out". SFGate. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
- ^ "June 5, 2018 Election Results". Department of Elections, City and County of San Francisco. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Su, Nathan (2019-09-07). "San Francisco Supervisors Face Backlash After Declaring NRA a Domestic Terrorist Organization". The Epoch Times. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Su, Nathan (2019-01-07). "San Francisco Mayoral Candidate Vows to End Mono-Party Control of City". The Epoch Times. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "It's official: Six challengers aim to unseat SF Mayor London Breed in November". San Francisco Chronicle. 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Nuala Sawyer Bishari (2019-09-04). "Barring a Miracle, Breed Will Sail to Victory in November". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "SF Chinese group promotes gun ownership after community crime scare". The San Francisco Examiner. 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
- ^ a b c Rong Xiaoqing (2019-07-17). "The Rise of the Chinese-American Right". National Review. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Ellen Lee Zhou for Mayor 2019". Retrieved 2019-09-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Ellen Lee Zhou's responses to Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Eskenazi, Joe (2019-02-25). "Crowd of 4 shows up to watch pro-Trump, pro-wall rally on San Francisco City Hall steps". Mission Local. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "San Francisco Mayoral Candidate Vows Against Cannabis and Rent Control". NTD News. 2019-02-16. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
- ^ a b "李愛晨：華婦頻受襲 不容忽視" [Ellen Lee Zhou: Frequent violence against Chinese women cannot continue to be ignored]. World Journal (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2019-07-09. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
1. 李愛晨說，街道搶劫及暴力事件到處可見，發生在華裔及亞裔的案件不斷發生，無法同意舊金山犯罪率下降。(Ellen Lee Zhou said that street robberies and violent crime can be seen everywhere, and especially cases involving Chinese Americans and Asian Americans continue to occur, and she finds it impossible to agree that the crime rate in San Francisco is decreasing.)
2.「大部份攻擊華裔者是非裔，我不怪非裔社區，但這是社會問題，市長布里德及大部份官員卻避而不談這些社會問題。」李愛晨在集會上說 ("Most of those who attack Chinese are African-American. I don't blame the African-American community, but this is a social issue. Mayor Breed and most of the officials have avoided talking about these social issues," Ellen Lee Zhou said at the rally.){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Minutes of the Regular Meeting of The San Francisco Ethics Commission Friday, June 28, 2019". San Francisco Ethics Commission. 2019-08-12. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
In public comment, Ellen Lee Zhou stated that she has faced discrimination for speaking about unfairness in elections and said San Francisco has 75,000 unlawful dead voters. She stated that the Ethics Commission is not enforcing laws against voter fraud and Super PACs and asked Commissioners to do what they were sworn to do.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Molyneux, Stefan (Sep 11, 2019). "Is San Francisco Worse Than a Third World Country?". Youtube.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Chan, Connie (2019-07-27). "Is San Francisco racist?". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c Hua, Vanessa (2005-03-18). "SAN FRANCISCO / Acting on a teacher's request / San Francisco social worker is returning to her village in China to improve the school". SFGate. Retrieved 2019-09-12.