BOSTON -- Sam Yoon could become Boston's first Asian-American city councilor.

NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported that the 35-year old from Seoul made an impressive 5th place showing at a preliminary election to narrow down the field of candidates. Yoon has degrees from Princeton and the JFK School of Government. He is married with two children.

Yoon comes from a community where politics and voting are not part of the daily lexicon. So his fifth-place finish in the primary election was a shock. Victory, he believes, is best achieved by selling himself as the only citywide candidate --- from Dorchester. The rest will take care of itself.

Yoon has taught in inner city school systems and worked for nonprofit affordable housing groups. Housing is his No. 1 issue. He's part of a generation of liberal activists who have substituted the words rent stabilization for rent control.

"There are too many graduates from our schools who decide Boston is too expensive and then they leave," Yoon said. "There are tens of thousands of households in this city who pay more than half of their income as rent."

Yoon enrolled his son in a Boston pilot school, which he believes holds more promise than the traditional system.

"A principal is given autonomy and flexibility around designing his own curriculum -- hiring his own teachers. The classroom sizes are small," he said.

He is also pushing a new non-emergency communications system, 311, which compliments 911 and is now used in a half dozen other cities. He calls it a management tool, not a complaint line.

"People will call if they see drunken teenagers on the street," Yoon said.

With endorsements from key members of the Black and Latino community and from House Speaker Sal DiMasi, Yoon is spreading the word that he has an agenda, but he is also a team player.

"I want to make sure I am not doing something because I think it will give me a headline, or because it is hot and sexy," Yoon said.

Yoon faces an uphill battle. There are only four citywide seats, and three candidates are incumbents and three others have strong political legacies: the sons and daughter of two former mayors and one former secretary of state.

Four candidates are better financed than Yoon. But, he's counting on a more liberal voting block on Election Day to be his ticket to victory.