Republican Party Turns to Grassroots Outreach to Gain Asian Loyalty

By Michelle Phipps-Evans

In the 2012 presidential election, Asian Americans turned to the Democratic Party and voted in favor of President Barack Obama by a ratio of three to one over Republican challenger, Governor Mitt Romney. According to a survey by the Asian American Justice Center, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) and the National Asian American Survey, 73 percent of Asian-American voters cast their lot for the Democratic candidate—slightly above the Latino vote at 71 percent and below the Black vote at 93 percent. However, these combined numbers led to the Democrat retaining the White House for another term.

It’s no surprise, then, that the Republican Party has had to turn a corner.

According to Jason Chung, the Republican National Committee (RNC)’s national communications director for Asian and Pacific Islander Engagement, the RNC has been engaging in long-term, grassroots outreach efforts within different communities. The RNC is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party.

“This isn’t just about outreach to minorities,” said Chung. “This is about true grassroots engagement, and having those with differing backgrounds and heritage to be a part of the Republican Party. We are listening to the everyday concerns about raising families, the cost of education, the rising cost of health care on all Americans. No political party can grow by maintaining the status quo.

“Chairman Reince Priebus recognizes in order to grow our party, we must reach beyond having ethnic communities ‘just vote’ for our guy,” Chung added. “We need all communities to have a voice in the direction and goals of our party.”

This extensive reach into the community was one that Del. Barbara Comstock knows all too well.

“It’s something I’ve done since 2009,” said Comstock, who represented the 34th District in the Virginia House of Delegates, the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly, the state’s legislative body. She represented McLean, Great Falls and Sterling, Va. “I’ve been working with the community and they know to call on me always. There’s a substantial Asian-American community in my district, and I go where people are—getting together with people where the focus is on jobs, great education, and the economy.”

Likewise, Virginia Del. Tim Hugo (R) of the 40th District took his outreach efforts even further with appearances on Korean television and radio stations; and offered business cards printed in the Korean language.

“I do a great deal of the outreach in the native languages as it’s important to reach out to the first and second generation population all the time, not just during campaigning season,” said Hugo who represented sizeable numbers of Korean and Pakistani constituents in Fairfax and Prince William counties. Hugo, the third ranking member in the House of Delegates’ leadership, said he passed laws specifically affecting these communities.

Many Republicans believe that focusing on jobs, the economy, and education would attract Asian-American constituents to the Grand Old Party (GOP).

“The general strategy is to let Asian-Pacific American communities know the Republican Party is stronger on the issues Asian Americans are concerned with as they look to support their families, educate and raise their children, and look for employment,” said Chung who joined the RNC earlier this year as part of an effort by the party to encourage more diversity. “The philosophy is every vote counts, and we (the GOP) need to fight for every vote, and we are building a grassroots program in order to fight for every vote.”

However, Shankar Vaidyanathan, a 40-something-year-old Indian American from Arlington, Va., said he hadn’t been approached by anyone in the Republican Party seeking his vote. It was early October, and he had not received mailers nor robo-calls from the GOP candidate in his district.

“Maybe it’s because I’m a Democrat that I haven’t heard anything,” said Vaidyanathan almost jokingly. All 100 members of the Virginia House of Delegates were up for reelection Nov. 5. About 44 seats were unopposed, while 56 seats were contested. Asians make up about six percent of the state-wide population of Virginia, and about 14 percent in Northern Virginia alone.

Originally an ignored slice of the electorate, Asian Americans increasingly flexed their political muscles in 2012, as candidates and as constituents. Asians, not Hispanics, were America’s fastest-growing minority group in the last decade, and many now live beyond the traditional enclaves of California and Hawaii.

Therefore, they have been courted in key battleground states such as Virginia. Republican Asian Americans hold governorships in the southern states of Louisiana and South Carolina. And in 2012, a record wave of Asian Americans—mainly Democrats—ran for office in the U.S. Congress, which brought the first Asian-American woman to the Senate.

Following the loss of the Asian American, non-white and female votes in the last general election in 2012, the GOP began to change its approach. In March 2013, the Associated Press reported that the RNC set aside $10 million for constituent outreach efforts. The RNC said it hired people “from coast to coast in Hispanic, African-American, Asian communities” to promote the GOP brand.

This, however, was not new. History revealed instances as far back as 30 years ago, where the GOP put aside millions to hire outreach operatives mainly within the black and Latino communities to appeal to these voters. However, this effort is relatively new in the Asian-American community, said Christine Chen, executive director of APIAVote, a national nonpartisan organization that works to mobilize AAPIs in electoral and civic participation.

“I think the hiring of Jason Chung is a good first step since this has never been done for the Asian-American community,” said Chen about the RNC’s communications director for Asian and Pacific Islander Engagement. “But only time will tell whether that’s enough. We’ll see if he’ll get the kind of support he needs.”

Janelle Wong, an associate professor of political science and American studies and ethnicity at the University of South California, said that up until 1996, Asian Americans support for the GOP seemed higher.

“Since then, neither party has devoted enough resources to reaching out to Asian-American voters in my view,” said Wong, also the director of the Institute of Public Service at Seattle University. “This is partly because Asian Americans are still a relatively small population, concentrated in non-competitive states, and, because many are immigrants, require a multi-lingual outreach strategy.”

After 2012, however, “the writing was on the wall for Republicans that they need to do more to attract all minority voters, including Asian Americans because those that did vote supported Obama at such high levels,” she said.

Wong was careful to clarify that Asian Americans did not support Obama because of a specific Asian-American outreach strategy by the Democrats.

“Instead, I believe they have moved to the Democrats because the party aligns with political preferences in the community, such as favoring a bigger government that provides more services,” she theorized. “The Democrats and Asian-American advocacy organizations have been educating the community on immigration-related issues and I do think that Asian Americans have responded to that more targeted outreach since 2012.”

Compared to the general public, Asian Americans were more likely to support an activist government and were less likely to identify as Republicans, according to the Pew Research Center’s Social and Demographic Trends Project. Half of registered Asian voters were Democrats or lean Democratic, while 32 percent identified with, or leaned Republican. Indian Americans were the most heavily Democratic Asian subgroup (65 percent), while Filipino Americans and Vietnamese Americans were evenly split between the two parties. The Pew project studied American behaviors and attitudes in key areas of their lives.

“It’s no secret that Republicans have ground to make up among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders,” said RNC chair, Priebus. “To earn voters’ trust, we must be present in their communities.”

This outreach goes beyond just constituents because a major part of the effort has been to encourage qualified, Republicans to represent their districts.

“Voter participation for Asian Americans is historically lower than other groups like Hispanics and African Americans and we have to do a better job of registering voters,” said Georgia State Rep. B.J. Pak (R), the first elected Korean-American representative in the Georgia General Assembly. “Our main effort should be to identify potential Asian-American candidates, especially Republicans. We’ve been portrayed as non-voting and more ideologically focused but people want to have personal relationships with people who’re potential candidates, and Republicans have to understand it’s a long-term process.”

Pak, like Cranston, Rhode Island’s Mayor Allan Fung, a Chinese American, said that the Republican Party’s ideals aligned closely to his personal philosophies. Pak said he believed in “equal opportunities, keeping the fruits of his success, personal responsibility and compassion, and fiscal and social conservatism principles.”

Fung added he was a fiscal conservative who watched every dollar.

“I’m very proud of the fact that people are starting to pay attention to the needs of the community,” said Fung who recently created an exploratory committee to consider running for governor of the state. He added that he has worked to help the national and the local GOP identify and listen to the concerns of Asian Americans.

Virginia Beach representative, Ron Villanueva, a Filipino American who’s also Republican, said it was about working in his community.

“It’s always up to the candidates to reach out to people in the community to be part of the process,” said Villanueva who represents the 21st District in the Virginia House of Delegates. “Some efforts are strong, some are weak. But we’ll help candidates get elected—either through financial contributions, door knocking or writing editorials.”

He added that he received “bipartisan support in Virginia Beach. Most Asian Americans look at the candidate not the party. I see this a lot where people may support (Terry) McAuliffe and Villanueva or (Ken) Cuccinelli and Villanueva. I’ve always worked in my community and have worked across the aisle on both sides.” Democrat McAuliffe and Republican Cuccinelli were in a heated race to become the next governor of Virginia on Nov. 5.

APIAVote’s Chen said it was good that more Asian Americans are running for office to tap into all areas of the community.

“It’s a good move what the Republicans are trying to do but it continues to go back to what the candidate stands for,” she pointed out. We’re glad they’re building the infrastructure but at the same time, we need to see where they’re going with it.”

“We want to do big things in our party,” said RNC Chair Priebus during an AAPI event about new Asian hires in California last May. “This is part of building out the Republican Party. We need to do better in the Asian and Pacific Islander community. If you don’t show up and aren’t campaigning on a year-round basis in the Asian-American community, then why would you expect to do well? We’re trying to change that.”