Rep. Wong plans to seek another term at the statehouse next year

By Mark E. Vogler

State Rep. Donald Wong said he plans to seek an eighth two-year term representing voters of the Ninth Essex House District.

“As long as I can still get things done for my community, I will continue to run,” the Saugus Republican said in an interview last Friday (Dec. 1) night as he stood near the entrance of Saugus Town Hall, waiting for the town’s Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony and Festivities. “Once I feel as though I can’t get things done for my district, I will step down. But right now, I am able to get things down for communities and the Commonwealth.

Precincts 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 in Saugus make up the core of the district, which also includes parts of Lynn and Wakefield.

Wong has faced no opposition during the last two (2020 and 2022) elections.

“I’m pretty fortunate in being able to work and get things done working with people on both sides of the aisle,” said Wong, who is the ranking minority member of the House Committee on Rules, the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, the Joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion, the Joint Committee on Rules and the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development.

Wong, who will turn 72 in January, has been a community leader for more than two decades. And since his election to the Legislature in 2010, he’s been a local leader for three communities.

“Pretty soon, we will be working on the state budget for the next fiscal year [which begins July 1, 2024]. I’m already talking to officials in three communities I represent to see what they need,” Wong said.

Before getting elected to the State House, Wong served as chairman of the Saugus Board of Selectmen (2007-2011) and was a member of the Saugus Annual Town Meeting (2005-2007). He is a third generation Chinese American. He, along with state Rep. Tackey Chan (D-Quincy), were the first Asian Americans elected to the state Legislature in 2010.

Wong and his wife Jeannie have three grown children. He is a businessman and president of Kowloon Group, Inc. which manages the Kowloon Restaurant – a popular Route 1 restaurant owned by three generations of his family at the same location for seven decades.