BY KEVORK N. ABAZAJIAN, PH.D.

Armenian-American political priorities are forward-looking. They include the security of the Republic of Armenia, justice and a right of return for the more than 120,000 Armenians displaced from Artsakh since September 2023, the release of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages still held in Baku, the protection of Armenian Christian cultural heritage, the confrontation of anti-Armenian discrimination, the strengthening of our community institutions, and the full participation of Armenian Americans in California civic life. The measure of a candidate, accordingly, is partnership on those priorities: sustained, year-round, and on the issues we ourselves identify as urgent.

By that measure, California State Treasurer Fiona Ma has earned our support for Lieutenant Governor.

The institutional case for Treasurer Ma is already on the record. The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region endorsed her in its 2026 primary slate, citing her consistent advocacy for the people of Artsakh, her commitment to confronting anti-Armenian discrimination, and her leadership in preserving the Mt. Davidson Cross in San Francisco. The Southern California Armenian Democrats, the largest Armenian-American Democratic club in Southern California, an organization Ma herself encouraged into existence, has endorsed her. So have the California Armenian Democrats. Armenian-American elected officials and community leaders backing her campaign include California Legislative Armenian Caucus Chair John Harabedian, Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian, and Burbank Unified School District Board Member Armond Aghakhanian.

Note the breadth: a grassroots advocacy organization, two Democratic clubs, the chair of the state’s Armenian Caucus, the mayor of the city with the largest Armenian-American population in the country, and a school district board officer. Those endorsements do not converge by accident.

Treasurer Ma’s campaign team reflects the same investment. Her Campaign Manager, Astine Suleimanyan, serves on the ANCA-WR Board and is a senior advisor to Southern California Armenian Democrats. Her Fundraising Director, Christina Kegeyan-Pappas, is also Armenian American.

Senior campaign leadership shapes strategy, relationships, outreach, and ultimately who has a voice at the decision-making table. Elevating Armenian Americans into these key leadership roles, especially placing an ANCA-WR Board Member in the campaign’s top operational position, reflects a genuine and lasting commitment to Armenian American representation, engagement, and political empowerment, not just symbolic support.

The record behind those endorsements stretches back decades. Ma’s relationship with the Armenian community in California began in 1994, as a district representative to State Senator John Burton. In the State Assembly, she co-sponsored resolutions on Armenian Genocide recognition and helped midwife the formation of SCAD. As Treasurer, she has continued that engagement, and she has been present at our community’s commemorations. Last year, she stood at the Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument in Montebello. On Wednesday, April 22, 2026, she delivered the keynote at the Orange County community-wide observance of the 111th anniversary of the Genocide, the same evening our Orange County Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee unveiled the sculpture maquette for the first Armenian Genocide memorial that will stand at Orange County’s Great Park. She also joined Caucus Chair John Harabedian and the California Armenian Legislative Caucus at the State Capitol. And every year, on Easter Sunday and on April 24, she has climbed Mt. Davidson, where the 103-foot cross stands as the Bay Area’s official memorial to the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide, a site she helped preserve.

I would add a second line of credit. As a scientist, I am keenly aware of the urgency of the climate crisis, and as a Californian, I see its consequences in our wildfires and our rising seas. Fiona Ma has called it what it is, the climate crisis, and has put state finance to work accordingly.

In June 2019, she chaired the inaugural meeting of the California Green Bond Market Development Committee at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, convening 27 climate scientists, engineers, and finance experts to establish rigorous scientific criteria for what may be marketed to bond investors as “green.” That September, she stood with public school students and teachers in calling for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System to divest from fossil fuels. In January 2020, she backed Governor Newsom’s $1 billion climate catalyst fund. In March 2023, she was the sole CalPERS board member to vote in favor of fossil fuel divestment, and she publicly endorsed SB 252, the bill to divest the state’s public pension funds from the largest global oil and gas producers. As a fiduciary with influence over hundreds of billions of dollars in public capital, she has moved the financial needle in the direction the science requires, on the timeline the science requires.

I write here in my personal capacity, but readers should know my affiliations: I chair Democrats of Greater Irvine, serve as an elected Assembly District 73 Delegate to the California Democratic Party, am Chair of the Armenian National Committee of America, Orange County, serve as President of the OC Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee, and am a Professor of Physics & Astronomy at UC Irvine. I have spent enough time around endorsements to know what we should look for: a record of partnership on our community’s full agenda, the trust of the institutions that represent us, structural commitments inside the campaign organization itself, and competence on the issues that affect every Californian. Fiona Ma meets that standard.

The California primary is Tuesday, June 2. Mail ballots are already in circulation. Armenian-American voters should cast a vote for Fiona Ma for Lieutenant Governor, and encourage their neighbors, in our community and outside it, to do the same.

Dr. Kevork N. Abazajian is Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Director of the Center for Cosmology at UC Irvine, where his research focuses on dark matter, neutrinos, and the early Universe. He chairs Democrats of Greater Irvine, chairs the Armenian National Committee of America, Orange County, serves as President of the Orange County Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee, and is an elected Assembly District 73 Executive-Board Delegate to the California Democratic Party.

https://asbarez.com/why-fiona-ma-has-earned-our-communitys-vote-for-lieutenant-governor/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSHaxhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEezpIRsFwK3tOP_ixJkpPfOTCNx-EouAQqSno7nUJHKVYoIuAYtGueSJXcACY_aem_4BfJq66omuvpm-4a9kdP0w