Asian Fortune Your source for all things Asian American
By Jennie L. Ilustre
Asian and Pacific Americans (APAs) represent over 6% of the U.S. total population. But they make up less than 1% of the nation’s elected officials.
Every election cycle, this figure has been increasing, particularly in recent years. One major reason: The anti-Asian racism which has spiked since the pandemic. Overnight, many APAs were motivated to run for office. Asian and Pacific American voter registration and voter turnout broke records – and even became a deciding factor in the winners of two 2020 Senate races.
In this midterm election, there are several American candidates of Asian ancestry.
Notably, in California, two Asian Americans are running for the same seat. NBC News reports that Jay Chen (Democrat) is challenging incumbent Michelle Steel (Republican) in a newly-drawn and highly competitive congressional district encompassing the northwestern portion of Orange County.
Once considered strongly Republican, in the last few election cycles Orange County has turned purple (split between red or Republican, and blue or Democratic). According to the NBC report by Kimmy Yam, the outcome depends on Asian Americans, about a third of the district’s voters. But they are frustrated by both candidates’ language and allegations about links to China and communism.
Steel, who is Korean American, served as chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors before her election in 2020, the report added. The son of immigrants from Taiwan, Chen is a lieutenant commander in the Navy reserves.
State, Local Races
Many Asian Americans are running in state and local races. This focus on winning in local races reaped historic results last year.
“Election night 2021 was a truly historic day for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, given three victories of candidates for mayor,” said AAPI Victory Alliance Executive Director Varun Nikore. “They not only forged a new path but showed that building your political base locally yielded success.”
He stressed in an email interview recently: “One of the reasons we need to see more AAPI candidates run for office is to ensure that more of our people vote in elections, and thus we have an opportunity to solidify our increasing power as an electorate and voting bloc. This cycle of power, in a way, becomes self-perpetuating.”
The non-partisan Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) usually has available data on Asian American candidates for the Democratic and Republican Parties. At press time, however, APAICS President & CEO Madalene Xuan-Trang Mielke said in an email that it was “still compiling the data” on candidates.
Community Power
AAPI Victory Alliance, which works to build AAPI political power across the country, endorsed candidates for state and local races.
The Alliance believes that “Community power is built locally.” The Building Local AAPI Power Endorsement Program “focuses on building AAPI political power by endorsing AAPI candidates running at local, state legislative, and statewide levels in key states and competitive districts.”
Executive Director Nikore said of the endorsed candidates, including the batch of eight: “We believe that all eight of these endorsed candidates have a very strong chance of winning their races.”
He added in an email interview: “With just a few short days before the election now, anecdotal polling and other indicators are showing that races are solidifying and undecided voters are making their voting choices, especially as early vote starts in many locations. In particular, we are seeing a lot of enthusiasm for down ballot races at the state legislative level.”
Candidates
In Georgia, the AAPI Victory Alliance endorsed Bee Nguyen, Dr. Michelle Au and Nabilah Islam. It had also endorsed Priya Sundareshan for Arizona State Senate.
State Representative Bee Nguyen is poised to make history as the first Asian American elected to a statewide political office in Georgia.
Nguyen handily won the Democratic primary runoff for Secretary of State in Georgia. She is a leading advocate for voting rights, public education, and criminal justice reform. She supports “voter expansion, not voter suppression.”
In 2020, Michelle Au became the first AAPI woman elected to serve in the Georgia State Senate (48th District). She is now running in District 50..
Nabilah Islam, who is running for Georgia State Senate’s District 7, is a “proud Bangladeshi American…and thrilled to further representation, equity and inclusion.”
In Michigan, State Sen. Stephanie Chang is the first Asian American woman to be elected to the Michigan Legislature. She was a community organizer in Detroit for nearly a decade before serving two terms in the Michigan House of Representatives.
As the son of immigrants, community organizer Ranjeev Puri, who is running in Michigan’s District 21, has seen firsthand how hard families work in their pursuit of the American Dream. “I understand how important it is to ensure we are all doing whatever we can to enable our future generations to succeed. That means waking up every day to ensure these kids are healthy, safe, have access to clean water and clean air.”
Susie Strom is a Korean American adoptee, who has “called Minnesota my home since I was three months old.” She is running for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Samantha Sencer-Mura is an educator, a working mom, a local community leader, a fourth-generation Japanese American. She’s running to be the next State Representative for District 63A in Minneapolis.
In Nevada, State Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen was the first in her family to graduate in college and then attend law school. “I went to Carson City to serve the people of our community and to take your voice with me,” she said in her website.
She pointed out: “We made progress on many everyday issues, including raising wages for hardworking Nevadans, capping medical costs, increasing funding for schools, and protecting our public lands.”
Duy Nguyen is running for the Nevada Assembly district 8. He is a Planning Commissioner for Clark County and a community leader of two local nonprofits serving Las Vegas and Nevada: One APIA Nevada and the Asian Community Development Council.
Cecelia González is a Thai-Mexican American, daughter of immigrants, and native Nevadan. She is running for the Nevada’s Legislative Assembly (District 16). She is committed to fighting for social, environmental, and economic justice in her community. Part of her aim in seeking justice for those in her community is criminal justice reform.
Sworn in as Pennsylvania’s 103rd district’s first-ever female representative on January 1, 2013, Patty Kim got to work immediately to reform business-as-usual in the legislature, stand up for her district’s residents and greatly enhance constituent service. She’s running for reelection this November.
Tarik Khan is running in Pennsylvania District 194, and pledged that “As State Representative, I will fight for a Pennsylvania that works for all of us.” His father is originally from Pakistan. His mother is a nurse, and he followed in her footsteps.
During the pandemic, he and a community organizer started a homebound vaccination program across the region. ”Nearly every night for the last several months, after my shift at the health center and on my days off, I visited homebound Pennsylvanians to administer COVID-19 vaccinations,” he said in his website.
Arvind Venkant, who is running for Pennsylvania State House District 30, is a physician. “Over the last five years,” he said in his website, “I had the privilege of being a leader of Pennsylvania’s state-wide emergency physicians’ organization, where I advocated for more affordable and accessible health care, resources to address the opioid crisis, and better mental health services.”
In March, Salman Bhojani was elected the Democratic nominee for House District 92 in Texas with over 57% of the vote. If and when Salman wins in November, he will be the first Muslim and first South Asian ever elected to the Texas legislature. He would also be the first person of color ever elected to represent House District 92.
Becca Moyer DeFelice is running for Texas House of Representatives (District 121). She describes herself as “a mom, community safety advocate, and civic engagement leader who believes that the Texas Legislature should work for Texans, not special interests.” A Korean adoptee, she grew up on a working farm in a Mennonite community in rural Pennsylvania.
Texas House of Representatives (HD-76) candidate Dr. Suleman Lalani issued the following statement: “This campaign is about securing representation for the AAPI Community in Texas. If elected, we’ll make history as the first South Asian and first Muslim to serve in the Texas Legislature.”
