Meet Anthony Dang, Candidate For CA Congress

Anthony Dang is vying to represent California's 15th Congressional District.

County elections officials will begin mailing ballots by May 4, in which voters will decide between candidates running for the congressional district that covers much of San Mateo County, including San Mateo and Redwood City, and the southeastern portion of San Francisco County along the Bay Peninsula.

Learn more about Dang’s goals for the region:

Educational background:

San Diego City College (AA, Social and Behavioral Science)

UC San Diego (BA, Political Science and International Relations)

Harvard (Masters in Public Administration)

Professional background:

20 years across defense, public policy, and nonprofit work. United States Marine Corps from 2004 to 2008, including combat in Iraq. Units: Combat Assault Battalion and 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion. After I got out, I co-founded a veterans nonprofit and served as its Chief Information Officer. Afterwards, I was a management and program analyst at the Pentagon, reporting to the Deputy Secretary of the Army, where I worked on national security and security cooperation policy and helped create the Security Cooperation Workforce Development Program. After the Pentagon, I spent several years in financial oversight at a major defense contractor on multiple multibillion-dollar weapons systems. I whistleblew and was featured in an expose by More Perfect Union about waste in the defense contractor industry. Today I run a civic tech startup, ProConcordia, that tracks legislation and elected officials at a federal level but will soon be expanded to cover state legislatures as well.

Age:

40

Why are you seeking a seat in Congress?

Because I've spent my entire adult life in service to this country and I want to keep going. I went to war after my brother was killed in action. I came home, rebuilt my life, went through Harvard, worked at the Pentagon, and called out fraud in the defense industry. Along the way, I've watched my home get more expensive, my friends and family get priced out of the area, our healthcare system get more stretched, and our political class drift further from the people it represents. I'm running because I think I can help change that and provide a perspective from real working Americans who have been cast aside by society, where modern policies seek to enrich the wealthy and powerful and keep normal people disenfranchised. I bring 20 years of governance, oversight, and policy experience, a Harvard MPA, combat experience, and no corporate money pulling me in any particular direction.

What do you think are the top three issues for voters in this election, and how do you plan to address them?

Housing and cost of living, healthcare, and government accountability. Median household income in San Mateo County is $156,000 and people still can't afford to live here. We need federal incentives that build actual affordable housing, real renter protections, and federal pressure on corporate landlords and institutional investors buying up the housing stock. On healthcare, between 140,000 and 170,000 people in CA-15 are on Medi-Cal, and the current Republican budget includes the largest Medicaid cut in its history. We live in the wealthiest nation in history and we still do not have universal healthcare. On accountability, I spent years in the Pentagon and the defense industry oversight before calling out fraud. I know how the money flows and how the oversight gets watered down. We need real consequences for corporate fraud, consequences for those who have hollowed out our institutions, real means of preventing money in our politics, and an end to members of Congress trading stocks in industries they regulate.

Why are you a better choice than your opponents?

I bring a combination of experience that is unusual for any first-time candidate: combat veteran, Pentagon program analyst, Harvard MPA, defense industry whistleblower, and civic tech founder. I take no corporate PAC or super PAC money, so my time in office wouldn't be spent answering to donors. I'm building this campaign with no paid staff, on small-dollar donations and volunteer hours from people who want something different. Whether that's the right combination for the job is genuinely the voters' call. We need more than just representatives who vote along party lines and call that 'fighting back'. We need to have people willing to break the status quo and challenge a system that has failed us. We need people who understand what it means to serve and what sacrifice really looks like.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

At 19, I was a corporal in 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion. I deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, in 2006 and led Marines through urban combat. I came home wounded and rebuilt my life from a VA mental health hospitalization to a Harvard MPA. I co-founded a veterans nonprofit and built its data systems as CIO. At the Pentagon, I reported to the Deputy Secretary of the Army, helped create the Security Cooperation Workforce Development Program (which shapes how the U.S. builds the workforce behind our foreign defense partnerships), and ran oversight on the KC-46 Tanker, P-8A Poseidon, and Presidential Air Force One programs (VC-25B). In the defense industry, I did financial oversight on the OSAM-1 and SPIDER satellite programs, Zumwalt-class destroyer, and the Hypersonic Missile development program, where I exposed fraud that cost me my job. Today I'm running a civic tech startup tracking all federal legislation, elected officials, executive orders, and Supreme Court rulings. None of that is political experience, but all of it is governance experience. I want to break paradigms and make representation about good policies, not being a buttoned-up politician who makes empty promises and placates those who have been ignored.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No. My dad came to this country as a Vietnam War refugee with nothing. My mom is permanently disabled, Mexican and Native American, and living in an assisted living home. My brother Andrew was killed in action in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2004. My wife Anne is a Marine Corps veteran. I'm the first one in my family to run for anything.

Have you ever held a public office, whether appointive or elective?

No. This is my first run for office. I held a Secret clearance and worked in federal civilian service at the Pentagon, but I've never been on a ballot.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know?

My brother Andrew was killed in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2004, when I was 18. I enlisted the next day. Two years later, I was in Ramadi myself. I got shot in the back, survived two IED blasts, and lost close friends. No member of a Gold Star family has ever served in Congress. I learned that only after I started running, and while it's not the reason I'm doing this, it does ground why I'm here. I'm running grassroots, no paid staff, no corporate PAC money, no super PAC money. dangforcongress.com if anyone wants to know more.