Allan Fung
Allan Wai-Ket Fung (born February 25, 1970) is an American attorney and politician who served as the mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island from 2009 to 2021. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2014 election and 2018 election. Elected mayor in 2008, Fung became the first mayor of Chinese ancestry in Rhode Island. Fung was previously a state prosecutor and attorney on legislative and regulatory affairs before serving on the Cranston City Council as a citywide councilman. He lost the gubernatorial race in Rhode Island during 2014 to Democrat Gina Raimondo by  five points and again lost to Governor Raimondo in 2018. Early and personal life. Allan W. Fung (), born on February 25, 1970, at Providence Lying-In Hospital (now known as Women & Infants Hospital), Fung is the eldest of Kwong Wen and Tan Ping's three children. Crown colony Chinese immigrants from British Hong Kong, his family settled in Rhode Island in 1969, and ran a small business on Cranston Street and Gansett Avenue, Cranston, RI. Fung graduated from Classical High School in Providence, RI in 1988, in the same class as future Providence mayor Angel Taveras. He earned a B.A.  from Rhode Island College in 1992. He received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Suffolk University Law School in 1995. He received the Classical High School Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009. Fung met Barbara Ann Fenton, a physical therapist, at the 2012 Republican National Convention. They married in summer 2016. Fung converted to Catholicism before the wedding. Political career. Prior to his municipal leadership career, from 1999 to 2001, Fung served as a prosecutor, acting as Special Assistant, for the Rhode Island Attorney General. Fung served from 2001 to 2009 as the government relations counsel for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company  MetLife. In 2003, he was elected to the Cranston, RI City Council. In 2004, Fung was honored as a Rhode Island Bar Foundation Fellow. He was also a Providence Business News 40 Under Forty honoree. Fung was chairman of the Rhode Island Governor's Insurance Council from 2005 to 2008. A Republican, he was elected mayor in November 2008, beating Democrat Cynthia M. Fogarty by 63% to 37%. He is the first Chinese American elected as mayor in the state. He succeeded Michael Napolitano, who defeated him for the position in the 2006 election by 79 votes. Fung was re -elected in 2010 against Richard R. Tomlins by 76% to 24% and in 2012 against only write-in opponents by 97% to 3%. Fung is a council member for the Republican National Committee's Asian Pacific American Advisory Council. Fung won re-election to a fourth term as Cranston mayor in November 2016, by a landslide ratio of 2 to 1. Under Fung's leadership, Cranston became one of the Top 50 Cities to Live in America for three years in a row according to the website 24/7 Wall Street. Cranston, according to Alarms.com website, was also named one of  the Top 100 Best Cities to Raise A Child in 2017. Because of term limits established in 2012, Fung could not re-run for mayor in 2020 and instead endorsed Kenneth Hopkins, who went on to win the election against Democratic candidate Maria Bucci. On January 4, 2021, Fung planned to attend the inauguration of Hopkins and administer the oath, but instead tested positive for COVID-19 and immediately left Cranston's City Council chambers, the location where the ceremony was being held. Gubernatorial campaigns. 2014. In November 2013, Fung announced his candidacy for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2014  election. He received several high-profile Republican endorsements during the campaign, including former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Almond, former Massachusetts Governor and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former Massachusetts Governor William Weld. On September 9, 2014, Fung defeated Ken Block in the Republican primary, with a 55% majority. Soon thereafter, the Republican Governors Association President also endorsed him. Democrat Gina Raimondo would go on to win the three-way contest by a 5-point margin. 2018. In October 2017, Fung announced he would again seek the governorship, but went on to lose to Democrat Gina Raimondo with 37.2% of  the vote. U.S. House campaign. In February 2022, Fung announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the United States House of Representatives in Rhode Island's 2nd congressional district after incumbent Democrat James Langevin announced his retirement. Political positions. Allan Fung describes himself as a "'Rhode Island Republican' -- moderate, but fiscally conservative". An "Eyewitness News" political analyst described Fung as "a more moderate Republican". Fung says that he's a pragmatist and described himself as a centrist who promotes bipartisanship. Fiscal policy. Fung identifies as fiscally conservative, but defended his decision to raise taxes as the mayor of Cranston . Running for Governor, he pledged to cut the sales tax rate in Rhode Island. During a primary debate, he said he supported making Rhode Island a "Right-to-work" state and noted that he switched some city employees from a public pension to private plans. During the 2018 gubernatorial campaign, Fung proposed reducing the sales tax to five percent, cutting fees, and introducing a concierge service for businesses. His proposed budget for Cranston in 2018 did not include a tax increase. Fung criticized giving health care subsidies to certain corporations calling such a plan "corporate welfare". Also in 2018, Fung  did support increasing city spending by $4.4 million; in 2017 he had supported a 2.2% tax increase. For funding education, Fung supports charter schools and wants to increase funding for technical education. Social policy. Fung described himself as pro-choice on the issue of abortion, but says he is not extreme and supports "common sense restrictions, such as his opposition to late-term abortion". He was endorsed by Rhode Island Right to Life, a pro-life group opposed to legal abortion, because they supported the restrictions proposed by Fung. As Governor, Fung said that he would consider "Roe v  Wade" to be the law of the land and would not change that. Fung later said he no longer identified as pro-choice but said he supports a "woman's right to make medical decisions" within some limitations. In 2018, Fung had this to say about abortion: "I have always respected a woman’s right to make a medical decision, but with common sense limitations that many of us can agree upon, including a ban on the disgusting practice of late term abortions, having the option of a plan on the healthcare exchange that does not include abortion coverage, and  parental notification for minors". Fung did not take a position on Rhode Island's Reproductive Health Care Act which would define access to abortion as a right in the state; Fung said he would "politely decline to comment". In 2019, Fung endorsed a pro-choice Republican, Rebecca Schiff, who was running to be the state GOP chairwoman. On gay and lesbian rights, Fung has a mixed position. As the Cranston mayor, Fung said "he's for civil unions but not same sex marriage". In 2014, the National Rifle Association (NRA) gave Fung a 93% score based on his agreement with  their positions. He was endorsed by the NRA for Governor. In 2018, he opposed Rhode Island's "red flag" gun control executive order signed by the Governor because it did not require input from mental health professionals. The NRA was one of his top donors in 2014. In 2017, Fung opposed President Donald Trump's travel ban. He supports DACA and asked Cranston's city council to approve a resolution supporting his stance in favor of DACA. He supported the Gang of Eight immigration bill which would have enhanced border security and given a pathway to legal status and citizenship  for undocumented immigrants. Fung opposes issuing drivers' licenses to undocumented immigrants. He also opposes sanctuary cities.