On Dec. 1, the City Council of Campbell, California promoted 26-year-old vice mayor Evan Low to a one-year term as mayor, making him one of the youngest gay and youngest Asian American mayors in the country, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. Low is currently working on his master’s degree in public administration from San Jose State University, where he also earned an undergraduate degree in political science. He also attended an executive program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. A resident of Campbell for eight years, Low works full-time as senior district representative to Assemblyman Paul Fong, (D-Sunnyvale). Low grew up in San Jose but eight years ago moved to Campbell, where his father, Dr. Arthur Low, is an optometrist and sits on the Chamber of Commerce. Low said he became interested in politics because he felt young people’s interests, such as affordable housing and the future of Social Security, were not being addressed. Campbell (pop: 38,000) seems to be an unlikely city for a young, gay, Asian American politician to gain a foothold in public service. The San Jose suburb is 70 percent white and 11 percent Asian, with a small gay community.
