Lowell Sun News
Oct/17/2005
By MICHAEL LAFLEUR, Sun Staff

   Local voters will be presented with an 
unprecedented sight when they enter voting booth 
for the Nov. 8 city election: the names of three 
Cambodian-American candidates on the ballot. 
   
   Never before have more than two Southeast 
Asian candidates sought one of Lowell's at-large 
School Committee or City Council seats, and 
never has there been two Cambodian-American 
challengers competing for one of the nine 
council slots at the same time. 
   
   But over the past two years and with the 
resignation of three-term Councilor Rithy Uong 
in July -- the first Southeast Asian candidate 
ever elected in the city -- there has been a 
remarkable surge in interest in local politics 
in Lowell's Cambodian-American community. 

   There also were several other prominent 
members of the Southeast Asian community mulling 
a run, including Samkhann Khoeun, a former 
executive director of the Cambodian Mutual 
Assistance Association. 

   He said he expects even more Southeast Asian 
candidates on the city ballot in 2007. 

   “It's definitely the beginnings of major 
involvement,” Ali said. 

   “Even if these folks don't win, you'll see 
them back again or you'll see their campaign 
managers running next time or somebody on their 
committee.”