Lanhee Chen

Lanhee Joseph Chen (born July 4, 1978) is an American policy advisor, attorney, and academic.

Chen serves as the David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution, director of domestic policy studies and lecturer in the public policy program at Stanford University, and lecturer in law at Stanford Law School.

Chen attended John A. Rowland High School, where he founded the Junior State of America (JSA) Chapter in 1992, and was Chapter President through the 1993–1994 academic year.

Chen was an accomplished speaker and debater in high school, and was one of the top students in California and nationally in the International Extemporaneous speaking and Lincoln-Douglas debate.

He was also one of the nation's top student senators in the 1994 National Speech and Debate Association John C. Stennis National Student Congress.

After graduating from high school, he went to Harvard University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Government in 1999, magna cum laude, a Master of Arts in Political Science, a J.D. cum laude, and a Ph.D. in Political Science.

At Harvard, he participated in political and policy-oriented extracurricular activities.

In 1999, Chen was a co-president of Harvard Model Congress.

The topic of his Ph.D. dissertation, "Essays on Elections," was a look at electoral politics, which included analyses of judicial elections, presidential elections, and the impact of redistricting on electoral outcomes.

His dissertation advisers included political scientists Sidney Verba and Gary King.

At Harvard, Chen roomed with Tom Cotton, US Senator representing Arkansas, and Bom Kim.

After graduating with his first degree in 1999, Chen moved to Washington, D.C. to work at a lobbying firm.

In 2003, Chen was the Winnie Neubauer Visiting Fellow in Health Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.

He was the healthcare adviser for the George W. Bush 2004 presidential campaign.

He was also an Associate Attorney at the international law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

Previously, he was deputy campaign manager and policy director on California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner's campaign for governor, Domestic Policy Director during Romney's 2008 campaign for president, and Senior Counselor to the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Prior to serving as Romney's chief campaign policy adviser, he joined Romney's Free and Strong America PAC in 2011 as policy director.

Chen was the policy director for the 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaign and Romney's Chief Policy Adviser.

He has been described as the "orchestra leader" behind the Romney 2012 campaign.

Romney confidante Beth Myers described Chen as the person Romney relied on "entirely" for policy direction.

He earned a similar honor in 2012, when he was named to a list of POLITICO's "50 Politicos to Watch".

In 2012, Chen was called a "rising star" of the Republican Party.

Chen announced his candidacy for the California State Controller in July 2021, seeking to replace termed out controller Betty Yee.

He lost to Malia Cohen in the 2022 California State Controller election.

Chen served in 2014 and again in 2018 as a senior adviser on policy to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

In 2015, Chen was named one of the POLITICO 50, a list of the top "thinkers, doers, and visionaries transforming American politics".

Chen was also a senior adviser to the 2016 presidential campaign of Senator Marco Rubio.

He has twice been the senior policy adviser to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and is frequently consulted by Senate Republicans for his views on a wide range of policy subjects.

Chen was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a seat on the bipartisan and independent Social Security Advisory Board, which advises the president, Congress, and the Social Security Administrator on Social Security policies.

He was recommended for the post by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

Chen was a CNN political commentator in 2016, and is believed to be the first Asian American to hold that position.

He is often on television and radio, and frequently appears on a variety of networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, CNBC, FOX Business Network, Bloomberg TV and the BBC.

He has appeared as a roundtable guest on ABC This Week, Face the Nation, Meet the Press, and Fox News Sunday and is a guest on top television political programming, including MSNBC's Morning Joe and MTP Daily, and CNN's State of the Union and The Lead with Jake Tapper.

Chen is also a frequent guest on the Hugh Hewitt Show, a conservative talk radio program.

His term expired in September 2018.

Chen currently serves as chair of the board of directors of El Camino Health, a major hospital in the Silicon Valley.

Chen was the Republican nominee for the 2022 California State Controller election.

Chen was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, but grew up in Rowland Heights, California, the son of immigrants from Taiwan.

He speaks Taiwanese Hokkien more fluently than Mandarin Chinese.

His parents are from Yunlin County, Taiwan.