Interview: One-on-One with Congressman Andy Kim

“I am, first and foremost, a public servant to my district—not a Democrat or anything else.”

Andy Kim was elected to represent New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District this past November, unseating Republican incumbent Tom MacArthur. Prior to running for Congress, Mr. Kim worked in the United States Department of State, serving as a diplomat and an advisor to military leadership, including General David Petraeus. He joins Merion West and Connor Mustakas to discuss his goals since taking office, including transparency and accountability, veterans’ issues, and combating the opioid crisis.

A focus of yours is transparency throughout government. Can you elaborate on how you aim to cut down corruption throughout levels of government and how you plan to remain transparent during your time in Congress?

The issues of transparency and accountability are fundamental to why I ran for Congress. I am not somebody who thought I would ever run for Congress. I am a former diplomat who comes from a national security background. I am also not somebody who sees themselves through a partisan lens because I have worked with Republicans and Democrats.

So for me, when I was thinking about why I decided to run for Congress, it came down to the fact that the system in Washington is really broken. I know a lot of people in my district share this feeling. I am looking at this stagnation down in Washington with my family in New Jersey wondering, and we’re wondering, “What happened”? Why did it get so bad? A huge part of that is the politics we have has become unraveled. It doesn’t have the same accountability and transparency that it used to have—or needs to have—to keep functioning.