How lawmaker is working to amplify Asian voices in Las Vegas valley

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Nevada lawmaker is working to amplify Asian voices in the Las Vegas valley as the community continues to grow.

Assemblyman Duy Nguyen is a father, husband and owner of a nail salon. When he’s not working with nonprofits, he’s getting to know his community and their needs.

“Most people don’t realize in Nevada that state lawmakers are part-time. We are everyday people, doing everyday things,” Nguyen remarked.

As one of the few Asian faces in local government, he knew he had a lot to bring to the table. Nguyen came to America from Vietnam at just 11 years old and said while you can find a voice in the immigrant community it’s not visible at the lawmaking level.

“That inspires me to take action not only in my elected role but as an everyday citizen where we need to provide input,” Nguyen said. “So currently we have 7 members of our AANHPI legislative caucus in Nevada, and 3 of us came last session in 2022 are there are 2 more candidates running in this cycle.”

Assemblyman Nguyen represents District 8 in the southwest valley, a part of Las Vegas that is growing as many Asian businesses have moved into the area.

As a small business owner himself, he’s working with other small business owners to bring them more customers, like Salt and Spoon and Tous Le Jours Cafe.

One of the initiatives he’s focusing on is access to healthcare.

“I’m talking to residents who are doing their practice here in Nevada and learning and ensuring that they stay when they finish their medical education and that’s important because we’re a growing population and we need to make sure we’re caught up with medical providers,” Nguyen added.

Not only is he passionate about working with the youth, he hopes to inspire the next generation through his work and story.

“I’m so lucky that one of the teachers here, Ms. Penrod teaches at the Southwest Career and Technical Academy, her assignment for the students is to engage with their legislator. I get to talk to them every spring semester and they advocate for different policies coming up in the session at just 17 and 18 years old. They have all these great ideas and when they get on track with me, we meet  in person. They were so impressed that now there is someone that looks like them who is in this role and I thought that was so humbling for me to even hear that,” Nguyen explained. “Even though I’m the first immigrant to be in this role, I don’t want to be the last so my goal is to encourage everyone to tell their story.”

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