His opponent was a lawyer and member of the Republican Party.
VOA: special.2009.06.04
As amember of the RepublicanParty, which is generally considered favorable to business and China, and a Mandarin speaker, Ambassador Huntsman is well qualified to speak on the subject.
To be eligible to seek the GOP nomination, he needed a special waiver from three of the city's five Republican chairmen because he isn't currently registered as apartymember.