Former Irvine Mayor and Council Member Sukhee Kang (D) Eyes Return to City Coucil in 2026

Kang had a successful run as mayor and as a council member and is well-liked and was a sought after endorsement by candidates in and outside of Irvine. He is challenging first-term council member Melinda Liu (who is my district council representative). Liu is aligned with the a troika of coucil members who had strong ties with disgraced former Council member Tammy Kim. Liu and William Go were commissioners under Kim (with Go offering his truck to help Kim move into an address in District 5 in early 2025, but no word if said same truck was used to move into an “ghost” apartment in November 2024 where Kim’s indictments lie). Go even named Kim as his Finance Commissioner until news of the private investigation into Kim’s address came out and then he replaced her.

Liu hired Kim’s former chief of Staff, Evette Kim, who allegedly got into an altercation with an Irvine resident during one of Tammy Kim’s last council meetings (where some salty Korean swear words were said to have been used). No matter how much Tammy Kim tried to supplant Kang’s reputation as Irvine’s top Korean-American, it never happened. Kang never played victim.

And rounding out that trio is Dr. Kathleen Treseder, who is up for re-election, and never let the rumor mill stand between her and good policy associated with Agran. Does anyone know if that FBI investigation in Irvine against former Mayor Farrah Khan is still ongoing? Because the case with former political consultant Melahat Rafiei wasn’t it — and if the feds did anything to investigate Khan, it was no more of a background check so she could greet Joe Biden on the tarmac at John Wayne Airport in 2022. Maybe the good Doctor will finally tell us what investigation she was a witness for at some point since....

Kang received a presidential appointment from President Joe Biden as Regional Administrator overseeing Pacific Rim, Northwest and Arctic regions spans from California, Nevada, Arizona,Hawaii, Idaho, Washington State, Oregon and Alaska for U.S. GSA. Kang was responsible for managing 1,800 federal buildings including federal courthouses and Federal Acquisitions and Technological Transformation Services for the federal government. He was involved in tons of capital projects, such as, Land Ports of Entry expansion, modernization, and reconstruction of federal buildings. That experience added to his time on the IrvineCity Council is just impressive. For Korean-American voters in the city, Kang is three times the political leader that Tammy Kim could ever hope to be.



https://theliberaloc.com/2026/02/23/former-irvine-mayor-and-council-member-sukhee-kang-eyes-return-to-city-coucil-in-2026/