{{Short description|American politician (born 1981)}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Bee Nguyen | image = Member of the Georgia House of Representatives Bee Nguyen.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 2017 | state_house = Georgia | district = 89th | term_start = December 15, 2017 | term_end = January 9, 2023 | predecessor = Stacey Abrams | successor = Saira Draper (redistricted) | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1981|7|18}} | birth_place = Ames, Iowa, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | party = Democratic | education = Georgia State University (BA, MA, MPA) | website = }} '''Bee Nguyen''' (born July 18, 1981) is an American nonprofit executive and politician who served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from the 89th District from 2017 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was elected during a special election in December 2017 to fill the seat vacated following Stacey Abrams's resignation in August 2017 to focus on her run for governor. Nguyen is the first Vietnamese-American elected to the Georgia House of Representatives.
Having left elected office, Nguyen now works on the staff of Senator Raphael Warnock as State Director.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senator-reverend-warnock-announces-new-additions-to-senior-leadership-team/|title=Senator Reverend Warnock Announces New Additions to Senior Leadership Team » Reverend Raphael Warnock}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Nguyen's parents fled Vietnam by boat, settling in Iowa in 1979.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shoichet |first1=Catherine E. |title=These decisions weren't popular. Jimmy Carter made them anyway |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/04/politics/jimmy-carter-legacy-refugees-cec/index.html |access-date=June 5, 2023 |publisher=CNN.com |date=June 4, 2023 |quote=Nguyen says her parents fled Vietnam by boat in 1978. A Thai fisherman rescued them, she says, and they spent months in refugee camps in Thailand. “My parents, they risked their lives. They left a country in which they experienced the loss of civil liberties, in which my father was incarcerated by his own government. And they were in search of freedom,” Nguyen says. They found it in Iowa, where they moved in 1979. “They were only able to do so because of the political courage exercised by President Carter,” she says.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Schouten |first1=Fredreka |title='She is our future': A Democratic rising star seeks to make history in Georgia's secretary of state race |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/23/politics/bee-nguyen-georgia-secretary-state-primary/index.html |access-date=June 5, 2023 |publisher=CNN.com |date=May 23, 2022 |quote=Nguyen, the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, has risen swiftly in the state’s Democratic politics. ... As Nguyen stumps in Georgia, she touches frequently on how her family’s refugee experience shapes her views. Following the fall of Saigon in 1975, Nguyen said her father – a pharmacist and lieutenant who served in a medical role in the South Vietnamese army aligned with Americans – was imprisoned for three years in a reeducation camp. Once he was released, the family fled – a harrowing journey that included a rescue at sea by a Thai fisherman. The family resettled in Iowa in the late 1970s, where Nguyen was born in 1981. They moved to Augusta, Georgia, when she was young.}}</ref> Born in Ames, Iowa, Nguyen grew up in Augusta, Georgia,<ref name="AJC 10-16-2017"/> and attended Georgia State University for her bachelor's and master's in English literature and an MPA in finance and management.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bee Nguyen |url=https://thebrunswicknews.com/special_sections/voters_guide/bee-nguyen/article_63e521d3-1629-581b-9f71-29f0c4a49ca4.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |website=The Brunswick News |date=October 13, 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Votesmart">{{cite web|date=|title=The Voter's Self Defense System - Vote Smart|url=https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/176752/bee-nguyen|publisher=Justfacts.votesmart.org|accessdate=2021-03-20}}</ref> She moved to Atlanta in 1999.<ref name="AJC 10-16-2017"/>
== Career == Nguyen was previously the executive director of a nonprofit organization<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legis.ga.gov/members/house/4917/?session=25|title=Georgia General Assembly|website=www.legis.ga.gov}}</ref> she founded, Athena Warehouse, a program to educate and empower girls in under-resourced communities. She is currently National Policy Advisor for New American Leaders.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patch.com/georgia/buckhead/bp--atlanta-heydays-profile-meet-atlanta-bee-nguyen|title=Atlanta Heydays profile: Meet Atlanta Bee Nguyen|date=January 6, 2013|website=Buckhead, GA Patch}}</ref> In November 2018, BizJournals included her on a list of 40 under 40s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2018/11/09/40-under-forty-georgia-house-of-representatives.html |title=40 Under Forty: Georgia House of Representatives' Bee Nguyen |publisher=www.bizjournals.com |date=November 9, 2018 |accessdate=2021-03-20}}</ref> Nguyen described her charitable work as helping to "focus her desire to reduce economic disparity".<ref name="AJC 10-16-2017"/>
=== Georgia Legislature ===
==== Elections ==== After Abrams resigned from the state legislature, four candidates announced efforts to succeed her.<ref name="AJC 10-16-2017">{{cite news |last1=Prabhu |first1=Maya T. |title=Diverse candidate field vies to fill Stacey Abrams' vacant House seat |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/diverse-candidate-field-vies-fill-stacey-abrams-vacant-house-seat/1qrv0rVhOOfdJqZq3PLgSI/ |access-date=June 5, 2023 |work=Atlanta Journal Constitution |date=October 16, 2017}}</ref>
In addition to being the first Vietnamese-American to win election to the Georgia House,<ref name="ajc">{{cite web|url=https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-general-assembly-gets-first-vietnamese-american-member/8BLw9qzeMEaUSDs7zddDnL/|website=ajc.com|title=Georgia House runoff won by Bee Nguyen over Sachin Varghese|access-date=2019-01-11|archive-date=September 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190909132936/https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-general-assembly-gets-first-vietnamese-american-member/8BLw9qzeMEaUSDs7zddDnL/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Nguyen became the first Asian-American Democratic woman to hold a state office in Georgia.<ref name="AJC 10-16-2017" />
In June 2020, Nguyen won the Democratic nomination for reelection to her seat by a wide margin.<ref>"Georgia Statewide Results", ''The Atlanta Constitution'' (June 12, 2020), p. A8.</ref>
==== Tenure ==== Nguyen opposed the Election Integrity Act of 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.msnbc.com/the-week/watch/state-representative-on-georgia-s-new-election-laws-109205061875|title = State Representative on Georgia's new election laws|website = MSNBC}}</ref>
=== 2022 Georgia Secretary of State election === {{Main|2022 Georgia Secretary of State election}} On May 4, 2021, Nguyen declared her candidacy for Georgia Secretary of State in the 2022 election.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fausset|first=Richard|date=2021-05-04|title=Bee Nguyen, Georgia Democrat, Enters Race for Secretary of State|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/us/politics/bee-nguyen-georgia.html|access-date=2021-05-04|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In February 2022, she announced that she had raised over $1 million in her campaign.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Murphy|first1=Patricia|last2=Bluestein|first2=Greg|last3=Mitchell|first3=Tia|title=The Jolt: Transgender sports ban introduced with high-powered support|url=https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/the-jolt-transgender-sports-ban-introduced-with-high-powered-support/O3GCBH337ZHI5BMIPZAQMWUIEY/|access-date=2022-02-03|website=Political Insider (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)|language=English}}</ref> Nguyen received 44% of the vote, and advanced to a runoff election against Dee Dawkins-Haigler, who received 19% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-2022-midterm-elections-biden-georgia-atlanta-c50af70decd1b79e20dbcdcaa6c033a9 | title=Bee Nguyen, Dee Dawkins-Haigler in Democratic SoS runoff | website=Associated Press | date=May 26, 2022 }}</ref> Nguyen defeated Dawkins-Haigler in the runoff.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/bee-nguyen-wins-democratic-runoff-primary-secretary-state-georgia-rcna30373|title=Bee Nguyen wins Democratic runoff primary for secretary of state in Georgia|work=NBC News|first=Brahmjot |last=Kaur|date=June 21, 2022|accessdate=June 21, 2022}}</ref> She lost to the incumbent, Brad Raffensperger, in the November 8 general election.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-11-08 |title=Georgia Secretary of State Election Results |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/08/us/elections/results-georgia-secretary-of-state.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Bee}} Category:1981 births Category:21st-century American women politicians Category:21st-century members of the Georgia General Assembly Category:American women of Vietnamese descent in politics Category:Asian-American people in Georgia (U.S. state) politics Category:Asian-American state legislators in Georgia Category:Candidates in the 2022 United States elections Category:Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Category:Georgia State University alumni Category:Living people Category:Politicians from Ames, Iowa Category:Politicians from Atlanta Category:Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)