In recent years, one Massachusetts House district in Lowell has become a contest of Cambodian leadership. This fall’s primary will be no different.
Tara Hong, the 26-year-old incumbent, is a first-term state representative. He ousted state Rep. Rady Mom in 2024 after trying to unseat the incumbent for the first time two years before, at age 22.
But Sokhary Chau could keep Hong from a second term. The 53-year-old, a Lowell city councilor, is putting forth a primary challenge. He was the first Cambodian to become mayor of an American city when he was chosen by the Lowell City Council in 2022.
This race shows not just the growth of Cambodian influence in one of the commonwealth’s most significant cities but also the community’s generational divide: Hong, who’s younger and promotes progressive sentiments, and Chau, who leans on his years of local municipal experience.
“There’s a lot of change in the city from new people moving into the city, more immigrant communities, refugees that seek a safe place to come to the city of Lowell,” Hong said.
“I ran on a progressive platform. I ran on a, ‘Be more inclusive, accessible, and open to the people in the 18th Middlesex District.’ And that’s what I have been delivering this past year and a half,” he added.
His challenger says he has made a career out of supporting the working class, and hopes to continue doing so from the State House.
“My focus has always been in Lowell, fighting for the working families here in Lowell,” Chau said. “And I believe my records have shown that on the council and as the mayor and on the school committee.”
According to state financial records, Chau has raised nearly $36,000 for his campaign from the beginning of the year through the end of July. In the same time frame, Hong has raised about $23,000. Since January, several regional business owners and the National Association of Government Employees union have donated to Chau. Workers’ unions have put their money behind Hong, including 1199 SEIU and Ironworkers Local 7.
Lowell is home to the second-largest Cambodian population in the country — just behind Long Beach, California. The 18th Middlesex District covers significant immigrant communities, including the Acre and the Highlands.
When Hong arrived in Lowell in 2013 with his mother and sister, he attended school in the Acre. He eventually attended UMass Lowell, graduating in 2022 — the same year he first ran for the House seat.
He ran again in 2024, this time defeating Mom, another Cambodian American who held the seat for a decade.
Looking at his brief time in office, Hong said, “I strongly believe that we have done more than [the previous representative] over a decade in this position,” touting the work he’s done to improve constituent services.
He says that his office has helped more than 100 family and individual cases on matters related to unemployment, immigration and housing.
“The people in the district have saw the work that we have done and [see] and understand how hardworking we are,” Hong said. “I’m running because I want to continue to expand the work that we’ve done and bring more resources back to our community.”
School funding remains a top priorities for Hong as he looks to secure a second term. In his first term, Hong voted to increase funding for Chapter 70, the state’s primary school funding formula, which was increased by 6.7% in the fiscal 2026 budget.
“Money is tight everywhere,” Hong said. “We just need to continue to find ways to bring more money from the state and update our Chapter 70 formula so that it works better and more equitable for all districts, including mine in the city of Lowell.”
Hong said that his last year and a half in the seat has given him experience that his challenger doesn’t have. Hong also said that the Cambodian community in Lowell can tell the difference between himself and Chau.
“They know where I stand for the Cambodian American population in the city of Lowell and to my opponent, where he stands. Compare our record of when he was the mayor of the city of Lowell,” he added. “There are still those closed minds of [the] older political camp that don’t want to see anything change at all in the community.”
Chau, like many Cambodians, found a home the United States after fleeing the Khmer Rouge massacre in the late 1970s, which claimed millions of lives.
His father was one of the first lives lost in the Khmer Rouge regime. Chau and his family fled to the United States and, after some time in Pennsylvania, arrived in Lowell in 1985.
Less than four decades later, Chau became a member of the city council. In 2022, he became the first Cambodian mayor in the nation and the first mayor of color in Lowell’s history.
Chau said that being mayor, as well as his experience on Lowell’s City Council and school committee, will be an advantage for him on Beacon Hill.
“All politics is local,” Chau said. “I am hoping to bring the same level of accessibility, welcoming accountability to Beacon Hill ... to make our local government democratic. Work for the people, not the other way around.”
Chau said that his local government experience is exactly what Lowell needs right now. He said his roles in city government provide him the expertise needed to advocate for Lowell on a state level.
He said that Hong has a “bright future ahead” but that today, Lowell needs immediate funding that he feels he is better equipped to secure.
“I am able to negotiate with different leadership, and I am willing to work with everybody. I’m willing to work with people with different political perspectives, different political philosophy, just as long as we achieve our goals of fighting for more funding into our city,” he said.
As the co-founder of a mortgage company, affordable housing is the issue most pressing on Chau’s mind. He said that his first priority will be to expand existing first-time homebuyer and financing programs to make homeownership more attainable for residents in his district.
”You have many, many young professionals and young families — both working people — and they can’t afford a home as well,“ Chau said. ”We need to take care of everybody, not just the communities, the individuals that are not making enough money. But even people who are having professional jobs, they are struggling as well.“
Lowell has a long history of Cambodian leadership. State Sen. Vanna Howard currently represents the 1st Middlesex District in the Massachusetts Senate and was first elected as a representative in 2021. Rep. Rady Mom held the 18th Middlesex District House seat from 2015 to 2025.
Chau said having two Cambodian Americans running for this seat in Lowell wouldn’t have happened 20 years ago. But today, it speaks to how far the Cambodian community has grown in Lowell.
“It could not have happened anywhere else in the world, anywhere else in the country, besides Lowell,” he said. “I just hope that one day, our looks, our background is not the determination of why we run.”
The primary is set for Tuesday, Sept. 1.
