Gen Z congressional candidate is running to combat sex trafficking
Republican Anita Chen of California talks to Zivvy News about her bid for U.S. congress.
Zivvy News is committed to highlighting the work of young changemakers who are tackling key issues and making a difference in their communities and beyond. Ahead of Election Day, Zivvy News has spoken to several Gen Z politicians. View our Gen Z Spotlight series here.
Whenever Anita Chen talks about running for U.S. Congress, she likes to tell people she is “two years overqualified.” At 27, Chen is two years older than the minimum age required to serve in Congress, making her one of the youngest candidates in the 2024 election cycle.
A Republican vying for California’s 17th District, Chen was inspired to run after learning about the child sex trafficking crisis in the United States. “It's an estimated 100 to 300,000 cases [a year], with about 80% involving American youth,” she tells Zivvy News.
Her platform is built around being a “voice for the voiceless,” with a core focus on combating sex trafficking. She believes solutions to issues like these are best handled through community-based initiatives, nonprofits, and local projects that empower survivors with skills and connect them to resources.
“I have been lucky to connect with quite a few different nonprofits throughout the Bay Area that focus on working with trafficking victims and survivors,” Chen says. “They are very much focused on helping survivors reintegrate back into society.” Chen specifically mentioned the nonprofit AnnieCannons, where they train and help trafficking survivors build sustainable careers in tech. “They train with Cisco's programs, and then they're onboarded with companies like Cisco and Google,” she explains.
Aside from being young herself, Chen draws on her career as an English teacher to stay closely attuned to issues concerning young Californians. While the economy tops their list of concerns—a trend seen nationwide—Chen also observes two issues specific to her district, which spans parts of the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley.
“When I talk to my students and those in high school, they're often concerned about merit-based admissions,” she says. “The Supreme Court has made a decision about that that's made it a bit more equal. But there's some active conversation that they're having. And finally, I think they just feel this sense of danger and fear. They saw on the news a couple years ago, we had a lot of Asian hate [and] violence, especially here in the Bay Area.”
Given the large number of tech workers in her district, Chen is also focused on data privacy and the inconsistencies of AI legislation.
“Conversations like cryptocurrency, like artificial intelligence, these are discussions that we need to begin in Congress,” Chen says. “When I speak to crypto leads, when I speak to tech sector leadership, what they reflect to me is that they're waiting for congressional leadership on it. They're waiting for the types of regulations and rules that they can follow so that they can continue to thrive in the United States, and when the United States doesn't take a leadership role on that, they're actually being forced to go overseas, like Europe, for example, where the legislation is far more developed in these areas.”
Her advice to other young people who want to run for office is to “just try it,” likening it to swimming. “You can see all the graphs, you can hear lectures about how to swim, but you just gotta go in and do it for yourself. And that's the best way that you can learn.”
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