Democratic candidates scramble for Nevada's AAPI vote

COURTESY ROGER LAU

Elizabeth Warren's campaign was present at Las Vegas Lunar New Year celebration.

With just days to go before the Nevada's Feb. 22 Caucus, voters, media and the candidates are learning that Nevada is an entirely different ball game than either Iowa or New Hampshire, two mostly white states.

Nevada is the first early state with a majority nonwhite population; 28 percent of the Democratic electorate is Latino, 14 percent is African American and 11 percent is Asian American and Pacific Islanders.

“The culture is shifting. It used to be we were afterthoughts. Now people understand AAPI is a determining group in Nevada,” said Grace Vergara-Mactal, executive director of Service Employees International Union.

If you've visited Las Vegas or Reno, you can't help but notice the plethora of AAPI employees working in the casinos, restaurants and other service industries. Nevada hospitals and schools have been active in recruiting nurses and teachers, respectively, from the Philippines.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest-growing segment of the Nevada electorate and one that has been heavily courted by the candidates and the Democratic Party.

From AAPI Data and APIA Vote have prepared a fact sheet on Nevada's AAPI population. Here are some highlights:

• Largest AAPI ethnic groups in Nevada include: Filipino (162,936), Chinese (50,878), Japanese (26,359), Korean (16,169), Vietnamese (16,169), and Indian (15,022). 

• From 2010 to 2016, the number of eligible AAPI voters in Nevada grew 35%. 

• This compares to a 13% growth rate for the statewide eligible voting population between 2010 to 2016. 

• AAPI youth (ages 18-29) comprise 22% of the AAPI CVAP population in Nevada. • AAPIs age 50 

For the first time, the DNC will provide Caucus-goers voting material in Tagalog, one of the major dialects of the Philippines. Last month, Democrats held a workshop on how to take part in the Caucus for Tagalog speakers. 

After the New Hampshire Primary where Elizabeth Warren finished a distant fourth, the candidate, who has campaigned in Nevada heavily, released her Agenda for the Asian American Pacific Islander community, outlining her positions and goals on a number of. issues, including immigration, family reunification, health care, education, housing and racial discrimination.

In a lead-up to the Nevada Caucus, the major candidates participated in a Twitter Town Hall directed at the AAPI communities. Although the program was nationwide, the timing of the event was evidently chosen to get information to Nevada's AAPI voters.

Candidates have been keying in on the AAPI community targetting specific Asian subgroups. Elizabeth Warren located her Nevada field office in the heart of Las Vega's Chinatown. Her campaign has been active for a year in the Silver State.

Warren's campaign rang in the Lunar New Year with the launch of its “AAPI Weekend of Action” at the annual Las Vegas Spring Festival Parade.

“We want to make sure we’re meeting people where we’re at. That’s why we’ve been making a huge investment here in Nevada and Las Vegas, making sure we had staff on the ground,” said Roger Lau, Warren's campaign manager, the first Asian American to hold that position for a major candidate.

“Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are paying attention and listening to what the politicians are saying,” said Lau.

“They have health care issues they have to deal with. They have educational concerns. They want to make sure we have childcare,” Lau said.

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Pete Buttigeig meets with AAPI community members in Las Vegas late last year.

Former Vice President Joe Biden announced on January 31 the formation of the ​Nevada Asian American and Pacific Islander (​AAPI) Leadership Council​, which will focus on mobilizing and engaging Nevada’s growing AAPI community on behalf of the candidate.

Ash Mirchandani, a Las Vegas business and community leader, will chair the group, and Doris Bauer, a board member of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), will be vice chair.

“This council is a testament to the energy and support that the AAPI community has for Joe Biden. With only a short time left before the Nevada caucus, this council will be charged with convincing even more members of our community to join Team Joe," said ​Mirchandani in a statement.

"We will be phone banking, knocking doors, hosting community events, and most importantly, making the case for why Joe Biden is the best candidate to expand access to health care, improve our standing in the world, and ensure America’s long-term, equitable economic success,” 

“With only a few weeks before the Nevada caucus, I am excited to take the next step to ensure my community turns out for Joe Biden. Filipinos are one of the fastest-growing communities in Nevada, and we will be decisive in determining our Democratic nominee nationwide,” ​said Bauer.

Earlier in January, the AAPI Victory Fund, ​a PAC focused on mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Island voters, endorsed ​Biden for President​. ​

The newly formed council and the Victory Fund are holding an Early Vote Event on Tuesday, Feb. 18, at the popular Chinatown restaurant, Harbor Palace Seafood Restaurant. Starting at 4:45 p.m., the event requires an RSVP.

California Sen. Kamala Harris and businessman Andrew Yang, two of the three AAPI candidates, had invested heavily in the Silver State. Their absence leaves a lot of their followers deciding who they will cast their votes for.

Sanders has a small army of volunteers on the ground in the state who are knocking on doors, waving signs at commuters and handing out campaign literature in multiple languages.

The Vermont senator leads the presidential field by a solid margin among likely Democratic caucus-goers heading into Nevada’s four-day early voting period, but all six of the candidates actively campaigning in the state this week earned double-digit support according to The Nevada Poll™.

Sanders topped the poll conducted for the Las Vegas Journal-Review  and AARP Nevada with 25% of respondents expressing support, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden with 18%, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, 13% followed by Steyers, 11%, Buttigeig  and Klobuchar had 10%.

Except for Steyer, all have qualified for the Feb. 19 debate. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg qualified for the debate Tuesday morning. Steyerand Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard have until 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday to meet the debate criteria established by the DNC.
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The next Democratic debate can be viewed:

• Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2020
• Time: 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: The debate will air on NBC and MSNBC. 

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However, the debate may be too late for for Nevada voters. Almost 60% of voters are expected to take part in the state's early voting.

"Democrats just assume that Asian-Americans will turn up at the polls, and vote Democrat," said Dr. Michelle Diggles, author of a new Third Way study on Asian-American political participation. "There are very real serious ramifications for the assumption that demographics are destiny for the Democratic Party. If you don't do outreach, if you don't target, if you don't talk about the issues that they care about, they'll stay home."

“Candidates that don’t pay attention to the AAPI population will meet their demise,” William McCurdy II, the state’s Democratic Party chairman, told CNN. “They want to be courted. They want face time” with candidates.

UPDATED: Feb. 18, 9:45 a.m. to include Mike Bloomberg in the Nevada debate.