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John Chun Yah Liu (
traditional Chinese A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...
: 劉醇逸; born January 8, 1967) is an American politician in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a member of the
New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...
for the 16th district in northeast
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
. He previously served as the 43rd New York City Comptroller from 2010 to 2013, and as a member of the
New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...
from 2002 to 2009, representing the 20th district in northeast
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
. He was the first
Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...
New York City Council member and Comptroller, and one of the first two Asian American New York State Senators, as well as the first elected to legislative or citywide office in New York. He was also a candidate in the 2013 New York City mayoral election. Liu currently teaches municipal finance and policy at
Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City, United States. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the colle ...
and Queens College of the
City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...
, and at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
.


Early life and education

Chun Liu was born in Taiwan, and moved to the United States at age five. His father, Chang Liu, was an
MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
student and
bank teller A bank teller (often abbreviated to simply teller) is an employee of a bank whose responsibilities include the handling of customer cash and negotiable instruments. In some places, this employee is known as a cashier or customer representative. T ...
. In honor of John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family, Liu's father changed his sons' names to John, Robert, and Edward, and his own name to Joseph. Liu attended PS 20 in
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, and
Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a public academic magnet secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered and funded by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and no t ...
. He graduated from
Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science is a State school, public Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in the Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science ...
in 1985, doing
community organizing Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community buil ...
and volunteer work in his spare time. During his years attending
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
, he majored in
mathematical physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...
and rose to executive vice president of the university's Student Association. He worked as a manager at
PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...
and served as president of the North Flushing Civic Association before his election to the City Council.


Career


New York City Council (2002–2009)

Liu was elected to the
New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...
in 2001, representing northeast Queens in the 20th district as its first Asian American member. He also served as the Chairperson of the New York City Council's Transportation Committee, and served on the committees on Education, Consumer Affairs, Health, Land Use, Contracts, Oversight & Investigations as well as Lower Manhattan Redevelopment. Liu was known for his outspoken and confrontational demeanor.


Comptroller (2010–2013)

In March 2009, Liu announced that he was running for the post of New York City Comptroller. Liu had raised $3 million for his political run. In May, Liu picked up several endorsements from several different organizations: The Village Independent Democrats, The Queens County Democratic organization, the local
Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting p ...
chapter and the
Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a progressive minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois ...
, 1199 SEIU union local and the Uniformed Firefighters Association. Later, in September 2009, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) began endorsing Liu. In the September 15 Democratic primary, Liu was the front-runner, ending up with 133,986 votes (38% of the vote), but because he did not manage to reach 40% of the vote, a run-off election was required between Liu and David Yassky, who received 30 percent of the vote in the primary, but Liu later won the run-off by taking 55.6% of the vote. In the general election on November 3, Liu won the comptroller election with a total of 696,330 votes (76% of votes). Republican candidate Joseph Mendola came in second with 19.3% of the vote. During his tenure as New York comptroller, Liu claimed to have saved New York City more than $3 billion by cracking down on wasteful expenditures and cutting inefficiencies. He spearheaded Checkbook 2.0, the initiative to upgrade the city's current online transparency system.Office of the New York City Comptroller John C. Liu
; accessed November 4, 2014.
Liu is a leader of the Asian Political Leadership Fund, a federally designated 527 fund whose purpose is to promote political leadership from within the Asian American community.


Mayoral run (2013)

Liu ran as a candidate for
Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The Mayoralty in the United States, mayor's office administers all ...
in the 2013 election, losing in fourth place in the Democratic Party's primary election.


Political positions

His platform in the primary included: # Improving air quality and clean water by improving the city's transit system, pressuring the MTA to modernize their transit systems in order to reduce greenhouse gas emission and improve energy efficiency. # Greatly improve energy efficiency by supporting large-scale energy alternatives such as solar and wind energy as opposed to the usage of fossil fuels which would quickly deplete the Earth's natural resources as well as release about 10 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases every year. # Create opportunities to source food locally, which would improve New York's economy and further distribute capital throughout the City in an environmentally sound way.Reference A
, comptroller.nyc.gov; accessed November 4, 2014.
# Expanding safe streets for Senior Citizens by creating shorter crosswalks, implementing more countdown timers, and creating larger signs to reduce the risk of injury from careless drivers, inattentiveness, etc. # Support revitalizing
brownfields Brownfield is previously-developed land that has been abandoned or underused, and which may carry pollution, or a risk of pollution, from industrial use. The specific definition of brownfield land varies and is decided by policy makers and l ...
, abandoned areas which were previously used as industrial centers for factories and mass production. # Advocating to increase minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $11.50/hour to increase the standard of living in New York City. # Legalizing, regulating and taxing the production and sale of recreational and medicinal
marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...
to adults of age 21 and older, and directing the tax revenues and savings to university education.


Denial of matching funds

Investigations into Liu's election fundraising revealed that two of his former associates used straw donors to contribute to his Comptroller campaign, a discovery that rattled his 2013 campaign. On August 5, 2013, the Campaign Finance Board denied Liu
matching funds Matching funds are funds that are set to be paid in proportion to funds available from other sources. Matching fund payments usually arise in situations of charity or public good. The terms cost sharing, in-kind, and matching can be used inter ...
worth $3.53 million for his campaign. His supporters disagreed with the decision, saying they had legitimately donated funds to Liu's campaign, and were being denied their rights.


Investigations into fundraising associates and trial (2011–2013)

On November 17, 2011, Oliver Pan was arrested on charges of
wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...
from illegal donations. Pan was approached by an undercover
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
agent posing as someone who wanted to donate $16,000 to Liu, well over the city donation limit of $4,950 for individual contributions, and agreed to arranged for 20 fictitious donors. In February 2012, campaign treasurer Jia "Jenny" Hou was arrested for using straw donors to circumvent campaign finance laws and gain more matching funds from taxpayers. In October 2013, she was sentenced to ten months in prison after her conviction for attempted
wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...
,
obstruction of justice In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investiga ...
and making false statements. Pan's sentence was later reduced to four months in jail. Liu was never accused of any wrongdoing in connection with his staffers. On the eve of their 2013 trial, he expressed frustration with the U.S. Attorney
Preet Bharara Preetinder Singh Bharara (; born October 13, 1968) is an Indian American lawyer and former federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. As of 2025, he is a partner at the ...
's office for what observers have described as an "extraordinarily intrusive and exhaustive investigation," and was critical of the lengthy three-year long process and the interrogation of thousands of his supporters.


State Senate


2014 State Senate bid

In September 2014, Liu ran in the Democratic primary race for
New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...
District 11 (which includes some of the same neighborhoods as City Council District 20), losing to incumbent Tony Avella 47-52%. Liu and Avella had previously served together in the City Council, representing neighboring districts, and the two had a strained relationship. Liu criticized Avella for joining the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of senate Democrats that allied themselves with the Senate Republican Conference, creating a coalition that controlled the Senate. At the time, Democrats held a numerical majority in the Senate, but the IDC-Republican coalition prevented Democrats from holding power, while allowing Avella and other IDC members to gain committee chairpersonships. Avella criticized Liu over the latter's campaign finance scandal, his failure to pay fines from his earlier campaign for Comptroller, and his record as Comptroller. Liu was initially supported by the
Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a progressive minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois ...
, by the Queens County Democratic Party and by several unions, but these organizations largely dropped their support of Liu when Jeff Klein, leader of the IDC, announced that its members would rejoin the mainline Democratic Conference after the 2014 elections. However, after Republicans gained an outright majority in the State Senate in the 2014 elections, the IDC continued to caucus with the Republicans. In 2014, Liu rejoined Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, where he has taught
public finance Public finance refers to the monetary resources available to governments and also to the study of finance within government and role of the government in the economy. Within academic settings, public finance is a widely studied subject in man ...
. He also began a teaching position at
Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City, United States. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the colle ...
.


2018 State Senate bid

Liu initially stated he had no plans to run for office after his 2014 loss to Avella and declined offers to do so, but was inspired after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's upset victory over incumbent Congressman Joe Crowley in the June 2018 Congressional primary elections. He was then convinced to run for state senate by activists looking to defeat former IDC members. Liu was initially doubtful that the grassroots campaigners that approached him could gather enough signatures to place him on the ballot so close to the July filing deadline, but he received more than three times the number of signatures needed.
New York's 14th congressional district New York's 14th congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in New York City, represented by United States Democratic Party, Democrat A ...
, which Crowley represented, partially overlaps with State Senate District 11. Unlike in 2014, the Queens County Democratic Party, which Crowley chaired at the time, endorsed Avella instead of Liu. In the September 2018 Democratic primary, Liu once again challenged Avella. In a reversal of their 2014 race, Liu defeated Avella 53-47%, attributed to backlash against the former members of the Independent Democratic Conference, which had dissolved earlier in 2018. In the November 2018 general election, Liu won a four-way race with 54% of the vote, defeating Republican Vickie Paladino with 24% of the vote, Avella, running on two third-party lines with 21% of the vote, and third-party candidate Simon Minching with 1% of the vote, becoming one of the two first Asian Americans in the New York Senate.


2022 election

Liu won reelection in 2022. In 2023, Liu's Senate district changed from the 11th to the 16th.


See also

*
Chinese Americans in New York City The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest and most prominent ethnic Overseas Chinese, Chinese population outside of Asia, hosting Chinese populations representing List of regions of China, all 34 provincial-level administrative units ...
*
Government of New York City The government of New York City, headquartered at New York City Hall in Lower Manhattan, is organized under the New York City Charter and provides for a mayor-council system. The mayor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for the ...
* Taiwanese Americans in New York City


References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, John 1967 births American politicians of Taiwanese descent Asian-American state legislators in New York (state) Baruch College faculty Binghamton University alumni Hunter College High School alumni Living people Democratic Party New York (state) state senators New York City comptrollers New York City Council members Politicians from Queens, New York Taiwanese emigrants to the United States The Bronx High School of Science alumni Asian-American New York City Council members 21st-century members of the New York State Legislature