Seattle's new mayor joins Wu and Pureval as Asian Americans make political progress

Seattle's Bruce Harrell with his family and friends.

Bruce Harrell is Seattle's first Asian American mayor and second Black mayor after his opponent Lorena Gonzalez conceded Thursday.

Even though the votes are still being counted ,Bruce Harrell claimed victory as the first Asian and second Black mayor for Seattle.

"With today’s ballot drop, it’s clear that Bruce Harrell will be the next Mayor of Seattle," González said in a statement Thursday. "Earlier, I called him to congratulate him on a hard-fought race and wished him much luck in his efforts to make progress on the challenges Seattle faces."

From election night, Harrell was able to maintain his comfortable lead, a lead that will likely continue as counting of the ballots continue.

With a 24% leading margin, Harrell, whose mother is a Japanese immigrant who was incarcerated during WWII, called the election "history in the making,"

Harrell's win added to the victories of the Michelle Wu as Boston's first Asian American mayor and Aftab Pureval, Cincinnati's first Asian American mayor  marks a remarkable night that saw proof of the growing presence of the Asian American electorate and politicians.

Tuesday night, in her victory speech, Wu said, "I came to this city as a homesick college kid. But as soon as I stepped foot on the red line to Chinatown, tea token in hand, I knew I was home. Thank you, Boston." 

Wu's achievement was not lost  to her opponent,."She is the first woman, the first person of color, and as an Asian American, the first to be elected mayor of Boston," Essaibi George said. "I know this is no small feat, you know this is no small feat. I want her to show this city how mothers get it done." 

Aftab Pureval, of Indian and Tibetan descent, is Cincinnati's first Asian American mayor. He 

“Tonight, we made history in Cincinnati,” Pureval told a large gathering of supporters. “Cincinnati is a place where no matter what you look like, where you’re from, or how much money you have, if you come here and work hard you can achieve your dreams.”

The victories of the three mayors in major cities without a large AAPI constituency makes their wins all the more remarkable. Earlier AAPI mayors have occurred in cities that have a large Asian American constituency, usually in California and Hawaii.

New mayors, from left, Michelle Wu, Aftab Pureval and Bruce Harrell.

Meanwhile, in Michigan, Amer Ghalib was elected as the first Muslim and first Yemeni American mayor of Hamtramck, a city of 28,000 near Detroit. 

Ghalib unseated the 5-term incumbent, Mayor Karen Majewski, to become the city's first Arab American and Muslim mayor, according to unofficial results from the Wayne County clerk's office.

Ghalib captured 68% of the vote with 100% of precincts reporting. Majewski, who was running for a fifth term to lead the growing city of 28,000 residents, captured 31% of the vote.

A win for Ghalib represents a seismic shift in a city that did not have an Asian or Muslim council member until the 2000s, becoming majority-minority in makeup in the last decade. The city now boasts a foreign-born population of more than 41%. As many as 69% of residents speak a language other than English at home, the census reports.

Ghalib's win could be emblematic of  the trend of AAPI moving to the suburbs, a trend that will likely be more evident in the 2022 midterms as AAPI voter wield their growing political influence.

The Reflective Democracy Campaign, which looks at diversity in U.S. politics, recently released a study that found AAPIs make up over 6% of the U.S. population but less than 1% of elected offices.

“As the nation’s fastest growing racial group, Asian Americans are playing an increasingly vital role in determining electoral outcomes, running for office in record numbers and winning elections.,” said Jerry Vattamala, director of Asian American Legal and Education Fund's Democracy Program.