Presidential hopefuls vye for AAPI vote; Biden picks up endorsement, Sanders leads in California

BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGN

Sen. Bernie Sanders appeals to Asian American and Pacific Islander voters.

After the two predominantly white states of Iowa and New Hampshire, Nevada will have its Primary caucuses on Feb. 22 to choose their preference for the candidate the Democrats will pick as their presidential nominee.

AAPI voters make up about 10% of Nevada's electorate and after extensive preparations such as holding mock caucuses last week, could influence the state's caucuses. During the mock caucuses, campaign material translated into Tagalog for the first time to woo the voters.

California's primary, with AAPI people making up 16% of its population, will head to the polls March 3 but early mail-in voting begins the same day as the Iowa Caucus, Feb. 3.

It's no wonder the Democratic candidates are paying more attention to AAPI voters, a small but influential group in the western states, Hawaii, New York, New Jersey and in states you wouldn't expect, like Texas, Arizona, Alaska, Virginia and Maryland.

Before they dropped out of the race, California's Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey's Sen. Cory Booker had made inroads among AAPI voters in their respective states, forming AAPI outreach committees and staging events for those ethnic groups. Since their departure from the campaign trail, their backers are up for grabs. 

Former Vice President Joe Biden picked up the endorsement of an AAPI super PAC Friday. “We believe that Joe Biden is the best candidate to defeat Trump and lead our country,” Shekar Narasimhan, chairman of the AAPI Victory Fund, said in a statement. “Out of all the presidential candidates, he has the most experience and cares deeply about AAPI issues.”

Narasimhan made a point to acknowledge the participation of the three AAPI candidates. He said the AAPI Victory Fund made its endorsement of Biden “with enormous respect for the three AAPI candidates and others who entered the presidential race.”

However, according to the Public Policy Insitutute of California, Biden's rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders' support in California has surged since Harris left the race, while support for Biden and Warren appear to have plateued.

The PPIC tracking poll, which was last conducted in November, shows Sanders leading with support of 27 percent of likely Democratic primary voters, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden with 24 percent and Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 23 percent.

Sanders campaign held a press conference in San Francisco last week that was conducted in Chinese. The Vermont senator is running right behind Biden in vying for the AAPI vote, according to NBC.According to AAPI Data, the Asian American donors has swung its financial support to Andrew Yang, easily outperforming Biden, Warren and Buttigeig in that order.

Although the Chinese press conference is impressive and perhaps the first of its kind in this primary season, it also points out the difficulty the candidates have in reaching out to the AAPI communities, made up of over a score of languages and dialects. The press conference in Chinese doesn't translate to Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog or Indian American communities.

In vote-rich California, the largest Asian American ethnic group is the Filipino community, which communicates mainly in English or one of the numerous Filipino dialects such as  Tagalog, Ilocano, Cebuano or Pangasinan.

Sanders' campaign, whose campaign manager is Pakistani American Faiz Shakir, has made available campaign materials in six Asian languages: Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hindi and Punjabi. Tthat is more than any other campaign, according to ABC News. Fluent volunteers also help craft scripted appeals to prospective voters to ensure Sanders' messaging isn't lost in translation.

For 2020, the AAPI Victory Fund expects the AAPI electorate to play a critical role in states that are up for grabs, including Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia and Arizona, according to an NBC report.

Narasimhan said the AAPI Victory Fund made its endorsement of Biden “with enormous respect for the three AAPI candidates and others who entered the presidential race.”

“There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done in the next 10 months, and AAPIs are more engaged than ever,” he added. “We are committed to continuing our work for 2020 victories and delivering one million new voters for Joe Biden to win the Presidency and for Democrats to increase their House majority and to take back the Senate.”