Michael Yin (born March 14, 1986) is an American politician, software engineer, and businessman. A

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 ...

, he has represented District 16 of the

Wyoming House of Representatives The Wyoming House of Representatives is the lower house of the Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming State Legislature. There are 62 Representatives in the House, representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the Wyoming, st ...

since 2018. Yin is

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

's first Chinese-American legislator. Since 2023, Yin has served as Minority Leader in the Wyoming House of Representatives. Yin is also the president of OtterSpace, a company that builds electric vehicle charging stations in Wyoming.

Early life and education

Yin was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

to immigrant parents. His father, Alfred, was from

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, while his mother, Wooiyi, was

Malaysian Chinese Malaysian Chinese, Chinese Malaysians, or Sino-Malaysians are Malaysians, Malaysian citizens of Chinese people, Chinese ethnicity. They form the second-largest ethnic group in Malaysia, after the Malaysian Malays, Malay majority, and , const ...

. Yin grew up in a Republican-voting household. He studied at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

, where he received a degree in computer science. Yin stated that he moved to Wyoming due to the state's natural beauty.

Private sector career

Yin is a professional software developer, and had worked in the technology industry for a decade prior to his election in 2016. In 2021, Yin founded OtterSpace, a Wyoming-based company that constructs charging

charging stations A charging station, also known as a charge point, chargepoint, or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a power supply device that supplies electrical power for recharging plug-in electric vehicles (including battery electric vehicle ...

for

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

(EVs). The company opened four charging stations in the state in 2023, solely relying on private funds.

Political career

Prior to his election to the Wyoming House of Representatives, Yin served as vice chair for the Teton County Democratic Party. During the 2016 Democratic primary, he canvassed in support of

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

' campaign, and later canvassed for

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

Wyoming House of Representatives

2018 election

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, Yin ran to represent district 16 in the

. The district covers most of the town of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

south of Broadway Street. Yin ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination and faced Republican Barbara Allen in the general election. Allen led in a local poll conducted by the ''Buckrail'' media outlet prior to the election. Analysis from ''The Casper Star-Tribune'' in 2018 found that he would likely be the second Asian American elected to the body, after

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n-born Republican legislator Nimi McConigley, who served from 1994 to 1996. Yin ultimately won the election by a 59.6% to 40.3% margin.

Tenure (2018-present)

During his first term in office, he served on a select committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology. He sponsored legislation that would raise the

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

in Wyoming and protect access to contraceptives. In December 2019, he was part of a group of

Asian Americans Asian Americans are Americans with Asian diaspora, ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are Immigration to the United States, immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). A ...

legislators who traveled to Japan as part of a program created by the

U.S.-Japan Council The U.S.-Japan Council (, ''Beinichi Kaunshiru'', USJC) is a 501(c) organization, 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that contributes to strengthening Japan–United States relations, U.S.-Japan relations by bringing together leaders and exploring i ...

and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. He was reelected in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

without opposition. Following his reelection, he was selected to serve on the Revenue Committee and the House Judiciary Committee going into 2021. In 2021, Yin cosponsored legislation to introduce a 4% state income tax to fund education. In the

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

election, he defeated Republican Jim McCollum by a 73.8% to 25.9% margin. In November 2022, he was elected by the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives to serve as Minority Leader.

Electoral history

References

External links

Profile
from Ballotpedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Yin, Mike 1986 births 21st-century members of the Wyoming Legislature American people of Malaysian descent American politicians of Chinese descent Asian-American people in Wyoming politics Carnegie Mellon University alumni Democratic Party members of the Wyoming House of Representatives Living people People from Atlanta People from Jackson, Wyoming Asian American and Pacific Islander state legislators