Clinton campaign names new AAPI outreach director

(March 24, 2016)

THE CAMPAIGN for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced today  that it is appointing Jason Tengco to serve as its new Asian American Pacific Islander outreach director, the campaign said in a press release.

Jason Tengco

Tengco, who served as deputy director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, replaces Lisa Changadveja, who left the role last week to take on a position with the Democratic Party in Colorado. Changadveja became Clinton's AAPI outreach director in August.

 RELATED: Clinton's AAPI outreach director resigns

"Jason is passionate about engaging AAPIs in the political process, building a pipeline for youth empowerment, and ensuring that the AAPI community's diverse issues are heard and addressed," a said a statement from the Clinton campaign.

Tengco, whose parents are from the Philippines, served as the initiative's liaison in the White House Office of Public Engagement and managed the first-ever White House Summit on AAPIs. 

He has also worked for the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and was an Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies fellow for U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA).

RELATED: GOP makes a push for AAPI voters 

News of Tengco's appointment comes a little more than two months after Clinton's campaign announced the formation of an AAPI leadership council, comprised of more than 150 elected officials and community leaders who will help Clinton organize support for her campaign in AAPI communities ahead of caucuses and primaries.

Members of the council include Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), and Rep. Gregorio Sablan from the Northern Mariana Islands.

RELATED: AAPI voters help Clinton in Nevada

Both Democrats and Republicans have made great efforts in this year's presidential race to court AAPI voters, an electorate that by 2040 is expected to double, rising to 12.2 million, according to a 2015 report from the UCLA Center for the Study of Inequality and Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.

AAPI voters could play a key role in upcoming primaries and caucuses in states with sizeable AAPI communities, including Washington, New York and California. Asian Americans make up 5.4 percent of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census.

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Clinton's AAPI outreach director resigns

JUST AS the Presidential campaigns are moving into the states that have significant numbers of AAPI voters, the director of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's Asian/American and Pacific Islander outreach efforts is leaving.

Lisa Changadeveja

Lisa Changadeveja's resignation was announced on Saturday, March 19 by Clinton's campaign. She announced her departure via email a day earlier, Changadeveja said she had "tremendous faith in the campaign's commitment and ability to continue engaging our community as we move through the rest of the primary and prepare for the general election" the campaign said in a statement.

"I will be leaving Hillary for America as I have recently accepted a new job at the Colorado Democratic Party," Changadeveja said in the email, Reuters reported.

“She was an instrumental part of helping build our AAPI program and those efforts will continue with events over the next few weeks,” campaign spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said. “The campaign is expected to announce a new Director of AAPI Outreach very soon.”

Changadeveja, a Thai/American, left her position in the campaign to work with the Democratic Party in Colorado. She worked for the Democrats in Colorado for three months in 2014 to improve voter turnout in that state.

AAPI people form about 6 percent of the U.S. population, a figure that does not include people of mixed race, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

They make up nearly 15 percent of the population of California, which holds its nominating contest in June, and around 9 percent of the state of Washington, which holds its Democratic caucus on March 26.

Asian/Americans, along with other minority voters have been breaking for Clinton in the primaries and caucuses that will determine the nominee for the Democratic Party and in some instances such as in South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Nevada and Illinois  proved to be the determining factor in Clinton's victories.

Besides California and Washington, AAPI voters could be critical in New York, Hawaii and New Jersey, all delegate-rich states.

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For more news about Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders, read AsAme News.

Hillary Clinton goes after the Asian/American vote

Long-time Clinton supporter Lisa Changadveja

ON THE HEELS of remarks made by Republican candidates that angered many Asian Americans, Hillary Clinton's campaign moved to target the fast-growing Asian/American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

Clinton's presidential campaign announced last week that Lisa Changadveja will be the AAPI Outreach Director for Hillary for America.

According to the campaign, Changadveja was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of Thai immigrants, and has a long history with Clinton campaigns.

Changadveja's appointment comes as the Asian-American vote came into the limelight because of comments made by GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush about Asian "birth tourism" in the controversy over the use of the term "anchor babies."

RELATED: Bush blames Asians for "anchor babies," not Latinos  

Changadveja, 25, has worked on political campaigns since finishing college. She joined Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2007, working on get-out-the-vote efforts in the Nevada Democratic caucus and the Ohio and Indiana Democratic primaries. In 2013, Changadveja served as the AAPI and LGBT Director for Ready for Hillary, an independent super PAC created to help launch Clinton's 2016 presidential run.

The Pew Research Center found that 65 percent of Asian-Americans have identified themselves as Democrats or leaned Democratic as compared to 23 percent who identified as or leaned Republicans. This makes Asian-Americans the second most committed  constituency for Democrats behind African-Americans. 

Changadveja joins a roster of recent AAPI hires to the Clinton campaign, including Vice Chair Huma Abedin, Senior Policy Adviser Maya Harris, Finance Director Dennis Cheng, Surrogate Outreach Coordinator Michelle Kwan, Director of Women's Outreach Mini Timmaraju, Northeast Political Director Lyle Canceko, and Director of Delegate Operations David Huynh.

During this year's Asian Pacific American Heritage Month last May, Hillary Clinton announced the launch of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) for Hillary, a national initiative to organize and mobilize AAPI supporters. Clinton made the announcement at an event to celebrate Asian Pacific American  In conjunction with the launch of AAPIs for Hillary, Congresswoman Doris Matsui announced her endorsement of Hillary Clinton for President and agreed to serve as national campaign co-chair and the national chair of AAPIs for Hillary.

"Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have a huge opportunity to make a difference in this election," said Congresswoman Matsui. "Hillary Clinton has been a consistent champion and friend of the AAPI community. She is ready to be our next president and the AAPI community is ready to support her. I look forward to leading the charge to help make Hillary the candidate of choice for AAPI voters."

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