Rui Xu (born 1989) is a

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

politician. He is a Democratic member of the

Kansas House of Representatives The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for craftin ...

for the 25th district since 2019 and Co-Chair of the Kansas chapter of Future Caucus. He is the first Chinese American to serve in the

Kansas Legislature The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 state representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 state sen ...

and the only

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 ...

currently serving.

Early life and education

Xu was born in 1989 in Switzerland before moving to

Rolla, Missouri Rolla () is a city in and the county seat of Phelps County, Missouri, United States. Its population in the 2020 United States Census was 19,943. It is approximately midway between St. Louis and Springfield along I-44. Its micropolitan sta ...

. When he was twelve became a US citizen. Xu studied economics at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Political career

Rui was elected to the

for the first time in 2018, defeating incumbent Republican Melissa Rooker. With the victory Xu became the first

to serve in the

. As of the 2024 election cycle he is the only

currently serving. In 2020 and 2022, Xu ran for the seat unopposed. In 2024, he ran against Republican challenger Greg J. Schoofs.

Kansas House Committee Assignments

Xu has served on the Kansas House committees for Agriculture, Education, Higher Education Budget, and Financial Institutions and Pensions. He also served on the 2020 Special Committee on Kansas Mental Health Modernization.

Political positions

Xu is a member of the Democratic party. He opposes restrictions to abortions, he was against the

2022 Kansas abortion referendum The 2022 Kansas abortion referendum was a rejected legislatively referred constitutional amendment to the Kansas Constitution that appeared on the ballot on August 2, 2022, alongside primary elections for statewide offices, with early voting f ...

which sought to restrict abortion in the state. He has been endorsed by the nonprofit health services organization

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization

. Xu has proposed several bills to address

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. He supports expanding LGBTQ rights in Kansas, condemning the passage of a bill that restricted same-sex couples from adopting children.

Reference

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Rui 1989 births Living people Asian-American people in Kansas politics American politicians of Chinese descent Democratic Party members of the Kansas House of Representatives Naturalized citizens of the United States Swiss emigrants to the United States Asian American and Pacific Islander state legislators 21st-century members of the Kansas Legislature