This week, Phoong appeared in a campaign ad for Jane Kim, a candidate for California insurance commissioner. In the 41-second video, the two women appear next to each other. Kim calls out the insurance industry for denying Californians’ claims; Phoong gives Kim her endorsement.
“When something’s wrong, call Anh Phoong,” Kim says, echoing Phoong’s billboard slogan.
“And when insurance is looking grim, vote for Jane Kim,” Phoong adds.
Kim began her political career in San Francisco. She served as president of San Francisco’s Board of Education and later as the city’s District 6 supervisor. She lost a state Senate race to Scott Wiener in 2016 and lost the 2018 mayoral election to London Breed, following Mayor Ed Lee’s death. Kim also worked on Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.
The idea for the ad, Kim told SFGATE, arrived during a discussion with her team that covered old-school communication tactics.
“It started out with a conversation about billboards,” Kim said. “We were all talking about how inspired we were by Anh Phoong, and then it just kind of clicked. The whole team was like, ‘This is our dream.’”
Two months later, the dream came true. Kim and Phoong met at a St. Patrick’s Day gathering in Sacramento. Phoong was on her way to a Kings game, Kim said.
“Something I really appreciated about Anh — this is my first time meeting with her — is just how supportive she was of seeing women run for leadership, especially women that had different ideas and had big ideas,” Kim told SFGATE.
They met again at Phoong’s office. Phoong told Kim the story of her law practice and sprawling billboard empire; Kim laid out her campaign platform.
Phoong told SFGATE that she left that meeting convinced by Kim’s proposals.
“I love holding insurance companies responsible: no more delayed claims, no more denied claims,” she said. “You know, obviously I deal with that in a big spectrum of what I do.”
California’s primary election is on June 2. Perhaps Phoong will step into the spotlight again before then.