Julie Won (born April 17, 1990) is a

Korean American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...

politician from

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 ...

. She is 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 ...

for the 26th district, which covers the western

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 ...

neighborhoods of Sunnyside,

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brook ...

, Woodside, and Astoria.

Early life and education

Won was born in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and immigrated with her family to

in 1998, when she was eight years old. Her parents, who had left their jobs in South Korea after the

1997 Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...

, both worked in local small businesses. She grew up in Long Island and attended Hewlett High School. Won received her undergraduate degree from the

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Maxwell School) is the professional public policy school of Syracuse University, a private research university in Syracuse, New York. The school is organized in 11 academic departments and 1 ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

Career

Prior to entering politics, Won spent most of her career as a consultant at

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

2021 City Council campaign

In October 2020, Won announced her 2021 campaign for the 26th district of the

, held by term-limited

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Jimmy Van Bramer. Won had been serving as a member of Queens Community Board 2 for most of the year, and cited the difficulties her family faced due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

as the reason for her campaign. Ideologically a progressive, Won emphasized her work in the

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

sector and her support for citywide free

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

, alongside other left-wing policy priorities. Won faced 14 other candidates in the Democratic primary, many of whom also ran on progressive platforms, with no clear frontrunner among them. In part because of the size and volatility of the field, many would-be endorsers chose to remain on the sidelines, while others – including Van Bramer and the influential

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 ...

– coalesced around New York City Census deputy director Amit Singh Bagga. On election night, Won finished neck-and-neck with Bagga, receiving 18.5 percent of the vote to Bagga's 17.7 percent; every other candidate lagged behind in the single digits. Won received a major boost, however, when absentee ballots and ranked-choice votes were counted, and prevailed over Bagga 57-43% in the 15th round of ranked-choice tabulation; she formally declared victory on July 6. She faced minimal opposition in the November general election, and won easily.

2025 mayoral race

She endorsed Zohran Mamdani in the 2025 New York Democratic Mayoral Primary. Her husband, Eugene Noh, who managed the reelection campaign of Staten Island Congressman Max Rose, was hired as the campaign manager for

Eric Adams Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and former police officer who has served as the 110th mayor of New York City since 2022. Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York City P ...

' embattled reelection campaign.

Personal life

Won lives in Sunnyside,

, with her husband.

References