Republican House candidate Pearl Kim meets voters at a train station. Kim grew up in Flourtown and graduated from Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School. (Photo by Elizabeth Coady)

by Elizabeth Coady

She hasn’t won a single political race yet but Pearl Kim, the Republican candidate for the newly-created 5th Congressional District in Pennsylvania, is already a darling of the national media.

On an early sunny September morning, Kim, 39, who grew up in Flourtown and graduated from Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School, turned out for a typical candidate’s ‘meet and greet’ at the Radnor train station to shake hands and get face time with potential voters in the district encompassing parts of Chester, Delaware, Montgomery Counties and Philadelphia.

Not typical was the Vice media production crew in tow to capture her encounters with morning commuters. Producers for the media powerhouse selected Kim to profile in a documentary web series that debuts in October featuring four female candidates running as first-time candidates this election season.

This was Vice’s second visit to shadow Kim in her bid to win the contest against Democratic candidate Mary Gay Scanlon, who beat nine opponents in a hotly-contested primary race last May, assuring that Pennsylvania will have least one woman serving in Congress come January.

Before Vice, the “Washington Post” came calling – twice. And later on this same September day, Kim squeezed in between a ‘spaghetti lunch’ and a ‘spaghetti dinner’ an interview with the Huffington Post. “The New York Times” has also invited her to speak at their inaugural invitation-only “New Rules Summit,” taking place today and tomorrow (9/26-27) in Brooklyn, NY., touted as the launch of a national discussion on the “new rules of leadership” that will ‘create inclusive, equitable cultures that empower women to succeed.”

All heady stuff for Kim, a lawyer with 10 years’ experience as a special victims prosecutor handling rape, child abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence and human trafficking cases for the Delaware County District Attorney’s office. She followed that experience with a stint in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office working on a statewide initiative on campus security.

“My life has changed overnight,” said Kim, who was born in Philadelphia and later moved to a posh section of Flourtown with her brother and parents, both of whom were physicians who emigrated with nothing to America from South Korea.

Kim graduated from Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School in 1997. The house she lived in at 609 Creek Lane is a sprawling 5100-square-foot two-story Colonial with four white columns, a circular driveway and black shutters on the windows.

“I think I had an amazing childhood,” Kim said in an interview with the Local. “I think my parents have just made so many sacrifices for my brother and I growing up. And so I only have amazing memories from growing up in Flourtown.”

She remembers a high school teacher telling her, “Pearl, you are the all-American girl,” a comment that befuddled one friend who couldn’t see how an Asian-American could be “all-American.” Her high school yearbook graduation picture shows off the same megawatt smile that seemed tantamount to political weapon during the Radnor train campaign stop. The words she chose for her permanent record underneath her graduation pose: “Do your best, there is no goal better achieved than that.

One senior yearbook photo shows her wearing a determined grimace on the tennis court; another, laughing easily with a friend. Then there is the snapshot of Pearl as a baby printed with a prescient message from her parents and brother:

“Dear Pearl, You will always be our precious daughter. We know you have a great vision for the future. You have the ability to achieve your goals. We will pray for your dreams and will always be there for you.”

Two events in Kim’s life have become biographical milestones in her biography, though she is reluctant to share too many details about either event.

While a senior at Bryn Mawr College, Kim reported being sexually assaulted by a boy on a New Jersey college campus, and it was that experience – and the ensuing encounter with the justice system – that led her to become a special crimes prosecutor. She reported the experience to authorities who took the case before a grand jury, which declined to indict the suspect. Kim, who declines to say what jurisdiction the assault occurred, says that the brusque manner of the prosecutor led her to decide that she was going to become a special victims prosecutor.

“It was her approach in terms of when I was testifying,” recalled Kim. “It felt more like a cross- examination that a direct examination. And I thought, ‘You’re my prosecutor. You’re my advocate. I expected that you were going to be advocating for me' ... Her excuse was more in the sense like, ‘Listen, I’m doing you a favor. You know I absolutely believe this happened but you know my concern is this is a he said, she said case and that he comes from a great education.’

“It was literally, I think that day that I walked out of court, that I realized that ‘I’m going to become a special victims prosecutor,” she said.

If accolades are any indication, Kim excelled in the job. The Pennsylvania Bar Association honored her with the ‘Government Attorney of the Year’ award in 2015. The American Bar Association gave her the Norm Maleng Minister of Justice award for her work as special victims prosecutor. And the Legal Intelligencer gave her nod as one of 2011 Lawyers on the Fast Track. She attended Villanova University School of Law.

The second life-changing event was a cancer diagnosis when she was about 33 that ultimately led her to leave her prosecutor’s post. She does not say what kind of cancer she had; only that it made her think about what more she wanted to do with her life.

“Had I not battled cancer, I don’t know if I would have moved on from [the special prosecutor’s] job,” she said. “I think I felt so fulfilled working with victims one-on-one. But I think after my battle with cancer, I realized life is short, and I want to effectuate greater change and I want to do more.”

With “effectuating change” a constant theme for her life, Kim says she “literally jumped” at the idea of running for office after Congressman Patrick Meehan of the former 7th District resigned following sexual misconduct allegations by a former campaign staffmember. (Both Kim and Scanlon are the candidates of their respective parties for a ‘special election’ being held on election day to replace Meehan in Congress for the one month left in his term.)

“I think it’s fair to say that no one was expecting this seat to open up, and when it did I jumped for it,” said Kim. She says that her appearance at a local candidates’ forum generated buzz for her, and the local Republican party opted to endorse her candidacy. The endorsement was “brilliant,” according to local political observer Stefan Roots who characterized the move as a “haymaker” for the GOP.

“In a clever and obviously calculated fashion, the Delaware County Republicans have found it in their hearts to endorse a women of color as their choice in the 5th,” he wrote.

The move may be a strategic attempt woo some of the Democratic voters in the new district because of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s redrawing of district boundaries due to the previous map’s partisan gerrymandering. Political observers say the the new district is much more heavily Democratic than the previous one.

A lifelong Republican of the party’s centrist wing, Kim deflects a question about whether her endorsement by the GOP is a trade on her ethnicity and gender.

“I have no idea, but all I can say is that the reactions that I’ve gotten on the campaign trail have been very positive,” she said. “I think people have been really excited to see a fresh new face, you know, running and campaigning, and so that has really excited folks in the community. And I think it’s a great opportunity also to get for example the Korean American community civically engaged because they’re pretty excited also.”

Kim describes herself as a fiscal conservative who does not support legalizing pot, a one-payer health care system, the testing of welfare recipients for drugs, or teachers being allowed to have guns in school.

On the other hand, she does believe in school choice, parents’ rights to refuse vaccinations and that illegal immigrants who break the law should be deported. She also thinks the justice system should recognize the opioid crisis as a health issue rather than a criminal issue.

“Number one, we need to find better access to treatment,” she said. “Prevention is going to be critical. But also, destigmatizing is extremely important.”

She sidesteps giving pat answers on the issues of abortion and whether foreigners in the United States have Constitutional rights.

Of the “kneeling” NFL protests, she says, “I mean I understand, I respect the right to peacefully protest. But at the same time, I do believe, you know, I understand also why people have a difficult time when someone’s not going to stand for the flag.”

She admits that running on the Republican ticket with Donald Trump as the lightning rod president has made campaigning a challenge.

“It is difficult running in this current climate, no doubt,” she said “I think it’s unfair because, quite frankly, it’s Pearl Kim running for Congress. And I’m a new face trying to enter the world of politics. And so I have experienced some anger from individuals and I get a little taken aback by that.”

She backs Trump’s position against open borders but thinks there should be more legal avenues for legal immigrants to gain entry and citizenship. And she is particularly buoyed by his intervention in the Korean peninsula where North and South Korea have begun cooperative talks and where Trump has promised to end “provocative” joint military exercises with South Korea.

“I’m watching it closely and all I can wish for is ultimate peace. And, personally, I would like to see reunification between North and South Korea,” she said. “I know that that’s a complicated process and so forth, but you know I would love to see that. And it’s something my parents would love to see. I think ...that would be incredible. I appreciated Trump bringing home our fallen soldiers. You know that was a big deal.”

Before the interview wraps up, she’s asked if there’s a topic that she hasn’t been asked about but would like to comment on. She says that her Christian “faith is very important to her,” a line that seems pat for a wannabe politician – until you discover that she thanks the “Lord” first in her high school senior yearbook while handing out thank-yous to friends and family.

Where Kim ends up next we’ll have to wait and see in November. She’s not thinking of anything but winning and says, “I really feel that I’m the right candidate to represent this district.”

“I told you before: I only have plan A – that’s to win,” she said. “I’ve really not thought of Plan B. I’ll have to cross that bridge when I get there."