User:Psiĥedelisto/Ellen Lee Zhou

Ellen Lee Zhou is a Chinese American politician, social worker and candidate for the office of mayor of San Francisco in the 2019 San Francisco mayoral election. Zhou also ran in the 2018 San Francisco mayoral special election, receiving 4.28% of the vote. Zhou is a Republican, and she previously ran as an independent politician. Zhou is seen as a long-shot candidate which will require a "miracle" to win the race.

Political positions
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Zhou's "rhetoric and sometimes vaguely outlined policy positions skew conservative". Zhou is a supporter of increased gun ownership and is a member of the US National Rifle Association. Zhou is a supporter of Donald Trump, and her campaign website includes the slogan "Make America Great Again" within its meta description tag, having told Ballotpedia "I believe those who obstructed the federal agents to enforce immigration laws became traitors of the people." Zhou has likewise demonstrated in front of City Hall in support of a border wall.

Zhou is anti-marijuana abuse, and believes that San Francisco's drug policies are too lax and encourage homeless people to come to San Francisco.

Featured prominently on her website are her interviews and appearance in a documentary critical of San Francisco's policies produced by YouTuber Stefan Molyneux. Zhou has at times endorsed conspiracy theories, such as that the crime statistics in San Francisco are incorrect, and that there is widespread electoral fraud in San Francisco.

After saying "Most of those who attack Chinese are African-American. I don't blame the African American community, but this is a social issue. Mayor Breed [has] avoided talking about these social issues" at a demonstration she organized against what she claimed was a string of crimes by African and Latino Americans specifically targeting Asian Americans, Zhou was accused of "[fueling] racial bias and [creating] tension" in an opinion piece in the San Francisco Examiner.

Personal life
Zhou is an immigrant to the United States from rural Taishan, Guangdong, China. She was born in 1969 and moved to Chinatown, San Francisco in 1986 when she was 17. In 2003, she completed a master's degree in social work from San Francisco State University. Zhou is a Christian; as of 2005 she was married and had two children.