Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Dave Min was born on March 5, 1976, in Providence, Rhode Island, and raised in Palo Alto, California. His parents had immigrated to the United States from South Korea in 1972 to pursue doctoral degrees at Brown University. He is an Eagle Scout.
Min attended the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 1999, and received his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 2002.
He then worked in financial regulation as a staff attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as counsel to Senator Chuck Schumer on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, and as counsel and senior policy advisor to the Joint Economic Committee.
Career
In 2009 Min joined the Center for American Progress as associate director for financial markets policy, and in 2012 he became an assistant law professor at the University of California, Irvine, focusing on banking law, capital markets and real estate finance.
His first run for Congress came in 2018 in California's 45th district, where he finished third in the primary behind Mimi Walters and Katie Porter.
Min won the 37th district seat in the California State Senate in 2020, defeating Republican incumbent John Moorlach with 51.2% of the vote, and took office on December 7, 2020.
During his four-year term he chaired the Natural Resources and Water Committee and authored California's 30 by 30 bill, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed in 2023. In 2024 Min ran for the 47th congressional district, vacated by Porter, and defeated Republican Scott Baugh.
He was sworn in on January 3, 2025, and serves on the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
2026 race
Dave Min is the incumbent in California's 47th congressional district, which he won in 2024 with 51.4% of the vote. In the June top-two primary he placed first with 45.45%, while Republican Jenny Le Roux, an entrepreneur who ran for governor in 2022, took second with 25.00%.
The other candidates included Democrat Hunter Garcia Miranda and Republicans Michael Maxsenti, Bill Brough and Christopher J. Gonzales. Min and Le Roux face each other in the general election on November 3, 2026.