Tulsi Gabbard suspends her campaign for President

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Tulsi Gabbard ends her campaign for President by endorsing Joe Biden

What is most surprising is how long Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, was able to campaign while other, better known and better funded rivals folded earlier.

Gabbard suspended her campaign for president Thursday.and surprisingly endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for President. It was expected that Gabbard who throw her support to Bernie Sanders, who she backed in 2016. 

"It's clear that Democratic primary voters have chosen, Vice President Joe Biden, to be the person who will take on President Trump in the general election," she said on a Twitter video.  

"Although I may not agree with the Vice President on every issue, I know that he has a good heart and is motivated by his love for our country and the American people," seh continued. "I'm confident that he will lead our country guided by the spirit of aloha — respect and compassion — and thus help heal the divisiveness that has been tearing our country apart.

Gabbard, 38, announced her White House bid in January of last year and immediately made history as the first Samoan American, first Hindu American and the first female combat veteran to run for president.

Her departure leave only Biden and Sanders working for the Democratic nomination, two of the oldest candidates out of a field of 24 and one of the most diverse field of candidates put up by any US political party.

Gabbard was also one of three Asian American & Pacific Islander candidates to campaign for President at the same time. She joined California Sen. Kamala Harris and entrepreneur Andrew Yang in the historic primary campaign trail.

In addition, with Harris, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, to become part of most women candidates to run for president.

In her announcement on Thursday, she noted she would continue her military service in the Hawaii National Guard.

She has seven months left in her last term in the House of Representatives. Earlier, she had announced that she would not run for her Congressional District 2 seat.

Gabbard's best moment during the primary campaigning was in the second debate when she basically eviscerated Harris' record as California's Attorney General and San Francisco's District Attorney, wounding Harris' campaign that the California senator was never able to recover from.

During the campaign she touted her foreign policy credentials as a military veteran, called for bringing the troops home from the Middle East and ending the United States' "regime-change" wars.

When she first ran for Congress in 2012, she was dubbed a "rising star" in the Democratic Party, received the endorsement of then-President Obama. 

Speculation then was that she would be a a good Presidential candidate in 2020 and was given a vice chairman position in the DNC, to boost her name recognition and give her more status within the party in preparation for a possible run for President.

Then came a series of political miscues that placed her as a Democratic outsider. The first was when she quit her DNC position in order to campaign for Bernie Sanders against Party favorite Hillary Clinton, a spat that continued into the 2019-2020 Presidential campaign when Clinton inferred that the Russians might be favoring Gabbard in order to have her run as a third-party candidate lessening the chances of a Democratic candidate.

Through her connections with the Hindu American community who gave her substantial financial support, she appears to support  Prime Minister Modi, whose conservative -- some say fascist -- policies run counter to the Democrats' more liberal and moderate wing.

Then, in December of last year,  her impeachment vote was a head-scratcher. Gabbard was the only Democrat to vote "present" while the rest of her party peers voted to impeach Trump.

Her endorsement Thursday of moderate Biden instead of the progressives' favorite Sanders might be an attempt to put herself in the Democrats' good graces for her political future. A run for Hawaii's Governorship or a campaign for Hawaii's other House seat against first-termer Ed Case is not out of the question.

Kamala Harris endorses Joe Biden

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Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cordially greet each other after one of the debates leading up to the primaries.

California's Sen. Kamala Harris Sunday joined other former Democratic presidential candidates in endorsing Joe Biden for president.

"When I started my run for president, I said America needs a president who reflects the decency and dignity of the American people; a president who speaks the truth; and a president who fights for those whose voices are too often overlooked or ignored. I still believe that to this day. That is why I am proud to announce I am endorsing my friend, Vice President Joe Biden, for President of the United States," Harris said in a statement on Sunday.

The Indian American senator also announced her decision on social media from Alabama where she was to attend the 55th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when civil rights activists marched across the Edmund Pettis Bridge only to bludgeoned by police and chased by dogs.

Sen. Kamala Harris too to Twitter to announce her endorsement.

Biden retweeted her post and thanked her for her endorsement: "Kamala — You've spent your whole career fighting for folks who've been written off and left behind — and no small part of that alongside Beau. From our family: thank you."

Harris' endorsement follows the endorsements of Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Beto O'Rourke last week before Super Tuesday and a few days later, Mike Bloomberg added his endorsement. Her announcement also precedes another round of primaries on Tuesday, March 10 involving six states: Idaho, Washington, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and North Dakota. 

After starting her promising campaign with 20,000 people attending her Oakland rally in January of 2019 and great debate performance in June, Harris' support dwindled. By the time she ended her campaign last December, her poll numbers were in the single digits. 

When she chose to drop out of the race for president, Biden was asked if he would consider Harris as a running mate.

"Of course I would," answered Biden. "Look, Senator Harris has the capacity to be anything she wants to be. I mean it sincerely. I talked to her yesterday. She's solid, she can be president someday herself, she can be vice president, she could go on to be a Supreme Court justice, she could be attorney general. I mean she has enormous capability."

Andrew Yang moves forward with new foundation

ANDREW YANG

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After ending his presidential campaign last month, entrepreneur Andrew Yang,has founded a new nonprofit organization called Humanity Forward, which aims to advance the policies that he proposed during his campaign.

When he was running for president, his major planks included a universal basic income, human-centered capitalism and data as a property right.

“We knew we wanted to keep the movement growing, the only question was what form that would take,” Yang said on Wednesday in an interview with the New York Times. Prior to running for president, he also ran Venture for America, a nonprofit dedicated to helping train recent college graduates in entrepreneurship.

The New York Times reports that venture capitalist Albert Wenger and entrepreneur Susan Danzinger have collectively pledged $500,000 for a trial in a town in New York State yet to be selected, and professional poker player Daniel Negreanu has committed t$100,000 for additional test runs. Other contributors are reported to be anonymous.

While Yang was able to share his ideas during the presidential campaign, he noted that his new organization would be an opportunity to put some of his policy ideas directly into practice.

“I have to say I’m super excited about it,” Yang told The New York Times. “My hands were tied as a political candidate to some extent. And now I get to work.”

Humanity Forward will utilize mediums such as podcasts and high-impact events to advance the ideas popularized during his democratic campaign, according to the organization’s website.

According to the New York Times, Michael Bloomberg’s campaign reached out after Yang concluded his bid for the presidency to offer counsel for a potential mayoral bid.

Yang said he would not rule a mayoral campaign out, but expressed that his current priority is establishing Humanity Forward.

“I’m just about solving problems,” he said. “I would want to see who else is running and what the world looks like. I just want to put myself in the position to have the greatest possible impact.”

In earlier interiews, Yang also said that he is open to working in some capacity within the new administration if the Democrats are successful in defeating Donald Trump.

Analysis: Who do California's Asian Amerian voters support?

Super Tuesday is upon us and Asian American voters are ready to cast their ballots. There are over 4 million eligible AAPI voters in the Golden State, which has 415 delegates up for grabs.

The Democratic field of candidates has narrowed dramatically after the South Carolina primary. With Joe Biden's overwhelming victory in South Carolina, Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigeig and Amy Klobuchar have dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination to run against Donald Trump.

Fivethirtyeight.com says, "In California, which votes on Super Tuesday, Asian Americans make up 16 percent of the population, the largest percentage of any state except Hawaii. The state’s Asian American voters account for 12 percent of likely voters who are registered Democrats, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, which released a study of California voters last August. And that same research showed that 36 percent of Asian American likely voters in California are independents, compared to 43 percent who are Democrats, which means that if independents choose to cast a Democratic ballot, Asian Americans’ share of the primary electorate could be even higher."

The latest polls taken before the South Carolina primary shows Sanders favored in California, but momentum is in Biden's favor after his big win in South Carolina, drawing the overwhelming support of African Americans and moderate white voters.

Heading into Super Tuesday (but, before South Carolina), fivethirtyeight.com has four recent California polls with crosstab information on who Asian American voters are leaning toward voting for, and Sanders seems to have an edge, earning the most support in three of the four surveys the website looked at. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also did well across the board.

“I’m not sure how much that matters,” says Rep. Ro Khanna, the Indian American congressmember representing Silicon Valley, and Sanders' campaign co-chair. He adds, “I mean, (Biden’s) a formidable competitor, we’re treating him as such and we’re very confident we’re going to do well in a lot of Super Tuesday states. We think this is going to be a fight until the convention."

The chart below provided by fivethirtyeight was compiled before the outcome of the South Carolina Primary.

Sanders, whose campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, is Muslim American, was one of two Democratic candidates to attend the Islamic Society of North America’s annual conference in Houston over Labor Day weekend last year, an event that drew some 30,000 Muslims from all over the country.

Sanders has received endorsements from prominent Muslim American figures: Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim American women elected to Congress; and even millennial influencers like Hoda Katebi, a popular fashion writer, cultural critic, and political activist. A few weeks before Super Tuesday, Emgage PAC, which calls itself the biggest Muslim political action committee in the country, endorsed Sanders as well, according to Politico.

Biden, for his part, appears ready to give Sanders the Golden State and instead is focusing on states with large African American populations -- Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas. The Biden campaign has spent zero dollars on California TV ads, and a teeny, tiny, almost negligible amount ($4,000) on digital.

Biden also received and early endorsement of the AAPI Victory Fund, one of the more active AAPI political action committees.

One of the most visible Asian American surrogates for Biden is Olympic skater Michelle Kwan, a native Californian, but she has been absent from the Golden State in the runup to Super Tuesday.

Warren and her campaign manager Roger Lau first began talking about the importance of AAPI representation in government back when he was tapped for Warren’s Massachusett's senatorial campaign in 2011. They have been very deliberate in including more than 100 AAPI staffers throughout the campaign, including Mary Lou Akai-Ferguson, the national AAPI community engagement and organizing director for Warren for President who has led the campaign’s grassroots outreach efforts.

However the Warren campaign compiled an impressive list of AAPI celebrities and community leaders endorsing the Massachusetts senator, including such luminaries such as actress Constance Wu, authors Celeste Ng and Gina Apostol, CNN pundit Jeff Yang, former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao and prominent psychology professor Kevin Nadal. 

Warren "has called for more support for legal immigration, including redistributing unused visas to address the millions of backlogged individuals currently waiting for a way to enter the United States, as well as lower barriers to naturalization for green card holders — over a third of whom are Asian, who make up the largest group of naturalized citizens in the United States. She has declared that she will not just extend DACA, but provide a path to citizenship for DREAMers — and their families; about one in 10 DACA-eligible individuals in the U.S. are Asian,” the group noted.

To counter this list, the Sanders campaign compiled their own list of endorsements from prominent AAPI celebrities and leaders.

Is it Tulsi Gabbard's last hurrah?

Notice that Hawaii's Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is not even included in fivethirtyeight's calculations because she has done so poorly in the four early primaries and caucuses. 

In California, a candidate must win 15% of the votes in order to earn any of the delegates. It is unlikely that Gabbard will reach that threshold except for her appeal for the state's large Hawaiian, Samoan American and Hindu American subgroups.

Another candidate that shouldn't be discounted is former NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has spend a fortune in television, print and online advertising in California and Texas and other Super Tuesday states. It has been his campaign's strategy from the moment he announced his candidacy to ignore the first four contests and concentrate his considerable treasure chest on Super Tuesday. We'll see if this unusual strategy works for the billionaire.

With Californians Sen. Kamala Harris and tech billionaire Tom Steyer out of the race, along with Asian American Andrew Yang, the state's AAPI voters may go with the candidate who has put the most effort in winning their vote -- respect and reverence being important in most AAPI cultures. That would be Sen. Warren, who like Sanders propose a progressive agenda but hasn't been as strident nor did she have the well-established organization that Sanders never disbanded after his 2016 run against Hillary Clinton.

The big question is with moderates Steyer, Buttigeig and Klobuchar out of the race, where will their supporters go? And for the voters who opted to cast their votes early, if they didn't vote for the remaining candidates, their votes will amount to zero.

Will Michael Bloomberg's advertising campaign work?

“We are fighting this delegate by delegate,” said Roger Lau, Elizabeth Warren's campaign manager and the first AAPI to head a national political campaign. Although only has won eight delegates after South Carolina's Primary Saturday. Warren has a record of being able to win even in races where she initially trailed, Roger Lau adds. “I’m confident that we’re going to continue fighting all the way through until the convention.”


Two weeks ago, Warren put forth her “Working Agenda for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders,” and like Sanders, has invested heavily in multi-lingual campaign materials.


Besides, California and Texas, the other states voting Tuesday include Warren's home state of Massachusetts, Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, American Samoa, and Sander's home state of Vermont. Altogether these states and territory represent a third of the total Democratic delegates.

AAPI voters could play key roles in Texas where several AAPI candidates -- Filipino American Gina Ortiz Jones in the 23rd and Indian American Sri Preston Kulkarni in the 22nd -- running for Congress could spur  more AAPI voters to show up at the polls. The largest AAPI ethnic groups in Texas include: Indian (340,000), Vietnamese (258,000), Chinese (211,000), Filipino (170,000), Korean (101,000), and Pakistani (66,000), according to AAPI Data. AAPI voters make up about 5% of the electorate.

In Texas, Asian Americans are the fastest-growing demographic, according to the US Census. The Asian American community has grown by 42% since 2010. Evidence of the growing presence of AAPI communities -- every major city in Texas now hosts Lunar New Year celebrations and the "Howdy Modi" rally welcoming India's Prime MInister last year drew 50,000 Indian Americans to Houston.

In a Public Policy Polling survey of likely Texas Democratic primary voters released this week, 32% of Asian Americans supported Sanders, 29% supported Bloomberg, 20% supported Buttigieg and 9% supported Biden. But this poll was also taken before Biden's convincing win in South Carolina and before Buttigieg dropped out. 

On Sunday, both Buttigieg and Klobuchar gave ringing endorsements to Biden. We can assume that many of Buttigieg's and Klobuchar's moderate supporters in Texas and California would switch their preference to Biden or Bloomberg.

The Hmong American community, which has been politically active in Minnesota in the Twin Cities region and supporters of Minnesota Sen. Klobuchar, will likely take her endorsement seriously and vote for the moderate Biden.

Other states where AAPI could make a difference include Virginia and Colorado, representing 5.3% and 3% of the voters, respectively, according to AAPI Data.

Super Tuesday could be the make-or-break moment for several of the candidates and the moment the AAPI voters could help determine the outcome of the Democratic race for President.

Updated March 3, 9:30 a.m. for clarity.

Pew Report: Most immigrant voters are from Mexico and Asia

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Immigrant voters, who make up 21% of California's eligible voters could swing the Primary election on Super Tuesday.
Of this group, voters from Mexico and the Philippines make up the bulk of the foreign-born electorate, according to a new study by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

The Pew report, released Wednesday (Feb. 26), says that nationally, Mexico, the Philippines, India, China, Vietnam, Cuba, Korea, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and El Salvador, in descending order, make up the top ten origin countries of the immigrant electorate.

In fact, most eligible immigrant voters, as can be surmised from Pew's data, are from either Mexico or  Asia.

Taking the top ten countries as a sample, Latin American and Caribbean countries provide 5.9% of all immigrant voters. But the surprise is that immigrant voters from Asian countries, make up 5.3% of the total, a fact that most mainstream media and pollsters seem to overlook when reporting sample surveys that are usually broken down to only white, black and Hispanic.

Immigrant eligible voters born in Mexico account for 16% of all foreign-born eligible voters, far below their 25% share among all immigrants. By contrast, immigrant Filipino eligible voters make up 6% of foreign-born eligible voters even though they account for onl 4% of all U.S. immigrants. The disparity suggests that Filipinos become naturalized citizens at a faster rate than immigrants from Mexico.

Immigrant voters will play a critical role when Californians cast their ballots on Super Tuesday, March 3. Out of California’s 25.9 million eligible voters, 21% (5.5 million) are foreign born, the highest share of any state through Super Tuesday and in the nation, reports Pew.

At stake is California's 416 delegates, the largest number in the nation and the grand prize for the Democratic candidate who is paying attention to the state's demographics. The state's first-generation electorate could seal a Bernie Sanders nomination or it could give hope to any of Sanders' rivals.]

As of Wednesday evening, according to FiveThirtyEight, Sanders has a commanding lead in California with 30.2% of voters favoring her. 

The real contest, it appears, is for second place. Elizabeth Warren's strong performance in the last two debates has placed her in a virtual tie  with 13.2%  vs. Joe Biden's 13.1%. 

Mike Bloomberg, who has had the state for himself with a barrage of media since January, but all that spending has earned him 11.4%; followed by Pete Buttigeig, 9.5%; Amy Klobuchar, 4.8%; Tom Steyer, the lone Californian, 3.1%; and Tulsi Gabbard, 2%

Nationally, first-generation immigrants make up about 10% of eligible voters, or more than 23 million eligible voters, a record high according to Pew.

On and before Super Tuesday, California along with Texas (1.8 million immigrant eligible voters), Massachusetts (619,000), Virginia (550,000), North Carolina (307,000) and Nevada (293,000) four-in-ten of the nation’s immigrant eligible voters will have cast their primary ballots or expressed their caucus preference. 

Considering the critical role immigrant voters -- or first-generation US citizens -- will play on Super Tuesday and during the rest of the primary season, immigration issues have barely been mentioned in the ten debates held so far among Democratic candidates.

As first-generation Americans, their ties with their country of origin are still strong and many are likely petitioning for more family members to immigrate to the US but Donald Trump immigration policies seem to thwart or lessen the importance of family reunification, the basis of US immigration policy since 1965.

One of the other avenues for possibly becoming US citizens is through the special visas for refugees and students who can change their status while in the US. Again, the Trump administration seems to be placing more and more hurdles for applications from these groups.

Preferred workers with H-1B visas who work in professions in which the US lacks workers such in the medical field or high tech industries find the waiting lines longer and longer as the Trump administration cut down the number of visas issued.

Although separate candidates have explained their positions on immigration on their websites, the debates seem to be a major source of information for many voters. Yet moderators -- most of whom are based in the East Coast -- in the 10 debates have seemed to not realize the importance of the topic of immigration for this group of voters, who will help choose the Democratic nominee to run against the incumbent resident of the White House.

Immigration has been a flashpoint between Democrats and Donald Trump’s administration since the moment he took office and declared a Muslim Ban and it will likely be the centerpiece of his presidential campaign to fire up the xenophobic tendencies of his base and to attract as many racists and white supremacists he can get.

Democrats can counter Trump's supporters' zeal by paying attention to the immigrant voters' concerns about family reunification, deportation, the separation of babies from their parents and bans or limitations on travel from certain countries.

Pew's findings may be surprising, or even impressive, but they will mean nothing if this segment of voters don't bother to vote because r they feel there is no difference between Trump and the Democrats or if they feel their concerns are being ignored.

CORRECTION: Feb. 27, 10 a.m. Earlier versions of this blog had an incorrect number of delegates for California.

Today's the day as Nevada's AAPI voters head to their Caucuses

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Nevada's AAPI voters staged a practice caucus in January.

Nevada's former Senator Harry Reid was perhaps the first politician to take advantage of the state's changing demographics.
In the heat of a close election in 2010 and a target of the radically conservative Tea Party, Reid was able to win the endorsement of Manny Pacquiao, the champion boxer who although he wasn't a US citizen, was wildly popular with Filipinos and Filipino Americans.

"Manny Pacquiao and I came from different parts of the world, but we came on the same side of the street," Reid said of Pacquiao, who at the time was a congressman in the Philippines and in his fighting prime.

"Manny fights for those who cannot fight for themselves," said Reid. "It's not enough to fight yourself. It's not enough to want to be a champion. We want to be champions for others."

In the days before election day, Pacquio flew to Las Vegas from his training site in L.A. to attend a Reid rally and that may have been the difference in the close contest.

Today, there is no doubt that the Asian American Democratic vote is one to be watched as Nevada's voters caucus to determine who they favor among the candidates.

Since 2010, the AAPI vote is even more influential. The number of AAPI voters in the state grew 35% from 2010 to 2016, zooming past the 13% growth rate for all eligible voters statewide, according to APIAVote, which tracks demographic and voting data. Filipino Americans make up about half of that community. 

At a time when Republican action and rhetoric has made immigration a hot issue to the AAPI communities and the rise of xenophobia a real fear, it is not surprising that AAPI voters have swong towards the Democratic Party in recent elections.

According the US Census, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders now account for roughly 10% of the state's 3 million people.

CNN's lead-up to the election featured the story of Filipino American Dan Santos, a Filipino who became a political activist for this election. He will be managing one of the caucus sites, greeting Filipino American voters with a "Mabuhay." 

Earlier this month, Santos was picked to be chairman of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Democratic caucus, which represents the community in the county Democratic Party.

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Nevada's AAPI voters practiced how to caucus in a workshop held lasst month.

At the caucus sites, the state's Democratic Party, for the first time, is handing out preference cards in Tagalog, along with the Spanish and English voting materials.

The Las Vegas Sun also used a Filipino American to focus it's story on AAPI voters' growing importance.

Christian Bato, a volunteer at another caucus site, isn't so sure the Tagalog material was the best way to outreach to the AAPI voters since most Filipino Americans are fluent in English.

“As a son of Filipino immigrants, I appreciate the gesture,” Bato told the Sun. “But there are a whole lot of other ways we could have diversified our resources … maybe hiring an Asian American staffer for example.”

For some Filipino American, the Tagalog literature may have more importance as a symbol of respect. "We're proud that they are recognizing us," said Margie Gonzales, who chairs the county's Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) commission,. "It means a lot -- it means recognition."

For a community often overlooked and marginalized, recognition and respect means a lot.

"The mere fact that a lot of politicians are calling me and other Filipino American leaders, it shows you that we are becoming important," she told the Agence France Press.

"They are paying attention to us, because they know now that we vote."

Andrew Yang analyzes Democrats' Presidential debate for CNN

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Former 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate and newly annointed CNN commentator Andrew Yang.

We now know the answer to the question: What's next for former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang? He debuted Wednesday night as CNN's newest political commentator.

After the debate between Democratic Presidential hopefuls in Las Vegas, Yang joined a panel of talking heads abalyzing his former rivals' performances.

He seemed at ease and ironically, he had more airtime than he received in any of the seven debates he took part in. He has the fewest amount of airtime compared to the other candidates because he simply answered the moderators' questions and didn't use the opportunity to expand on other topics to hog more screen time.

Yang, an entrepreneur whose long-shot candidacy burst into the mainstream with the help of a loyal online following, dropped out of the race last Tuesday after failing to earn delegates in the first two nominating contests of the 2020 Democratic primary.

Wednesday morning, CNN made the official announcement.

“I’m excited to join CNN to help shed light on the election and the candidates’ experiences,” Yang wrote in a tweet Wednesday after the network announced the new relationship. “Learned a lot these past months and am glad to contribute to the public discussion.”

"I’m excited to join @CNN to help shed light on the election and the candidates’ experiences. Learned a lot these past months and am glad to contribute to the public discussion," he tweeted.

He opined that Sen. Elizabeth Warren had the strongest night among the six candidates on stage. Warren was most aggressive against billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg reminding the audience of the allegations of misconduct against women and the controversial "stop and frisk" policy that he endorsed as mayor.

Speculation about Yang's future plans still swirled around the entrepreneur whose prolongd campaign surprised and impressed the political establishment. He said he is open to any position with the incoming Democratic president and would accept an invitation to become vice president. There also were rumors that he would be run for New York City mayor.

"Andrew Yang and his bold vision for the country are not going anywhere," said Zach Graumman, Yang’s campaign manager.

“Maybe I’ll wear a tie…” Yang mused on Twitter prior to his CNN debut. Instead, he showed up with his signature look -- tieless.

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.

Warren issues her 'working agenda' for AAPI and Native Hawaiians

Roger Lau, left, is Elizabeth Warren's campaign manager.

With the voting done in two of the whitest states in the US, presidential candidates turn to more diverse states like Nevada and California where the AAPI vote is significant. On Thursday (Feb. 13,) Elizabeth Warren released a document entitled, “Working Agenda for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders,” outlining what her administration would do that would benefit this group of ethnic communities.
It is a comprehensive document covering a wide range of issues from immigration and climate change to college debt and small business assistance, LGBTQ rights to housing.

First off, from the document, is clear that the Massachusetts senator recognizes the economic and cultural complexity of the diverse communities that fall under the all-encompassing banner of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

She calls for disaggregated data collection.

"The AAPI community includes nearly 50 diverse racial and ethnic groups, but the data we gather today doesn’t capture the richness of the communities—or significant differences on key economic and social outcomes," reads the document.

"Everywhere you look, aggregated data hides Asian American families that are hanging on by their fingernails. Income inequality in Asian American communities nearly doubled from 1970 to 2016—Burmese, Nepalese, Hmong, and Bangladeshi Americans make, on average, less than half what people in some other AAPI groups make."

Then she pays homage to some AAPI historical figures and current day heroes, demonstrating that she has done her homework. Warren writes:

’ll listen to and learn from the AAPI leaders who have been at the forefront of the fight for data equity, language access, and racial and economic justice. From civil rights leader Fred Korematsu and labor leaders Larry Itliong and Phillip Vera Cruz to anti-racist organizers like Grace Lee Boggs, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have helped lead the fight for justice. And today, AAPI organizers are continuing that fight, as survivors of the Japanese internment camps oppose Donald Trump’s racist immigration policies, Native Hawaiians protect sacred land on Mauna Kea, and AAPI women like Saru Jayaraman and Ai-Jen Poo led the fight for fair wages and safer working conditions." 

Under immigration, one of the key concerns of the AAPI communities, a Warren administration will:

• Increase legal immmigration and recognize immigrants’ important contributions in creating jobs and business

• Make it easier for eligible green card holders to naturalize,

• Expand family reunification by reducing the backlog of visa applications,

• Reverse the Muslim Ban on day one of Elizabeth Warren’s presidency,

• Decriminalize migration and create accountability for the abuses perpetrated during the Trump era, and

• Immediately reinstate DACA protections for our Dreamers and shield their families from deportation.

• Create a fair and achievable pathway to citizenship for the estimated 1.45 million Asian Americans who are undocumented.

Even though she didn't "win" in Iowa or New Hampshire, Warren is undeterred. Nationally, she polls third behind Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. The next few states, Nevada and South Carolina are much more diverse that the first two states. Then on March 3, will be Super Tuesday when giant delegate-rich states like Texas and California will hold their primaries.

In conclusion, she writes:

"If we’re going to reshape our countr"y and our economy, restore our government, and save our democracy, we need to be willing to fight for bold, structural solutions to the problems we face as a nation. That means tackling generations of racial injustice and systemic discrimination head on and building a government that works for everyone.

"In our country, you ought to be able to take care of yourself and the people you love and build a better future for your children. That should be the fundamental promise of America.

"This is my commitment to AAPI communities. When I’m President, I will continue to fight and work with the communities to put real economic and political power in the hands of working people."