Andrew Yang endorses Joe Biden

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

After the polls closed Tuesday in Mississippi, Missouri and Michigan and the trend towards victories for Joe Biden became evident, former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang officially endorsed Joe Biden as the best candidate to beat Donald Trump.

Biden built on his momentum by racking up wins in four of the six states having primaries Tuesday. The other two states, Idaho and Washington, were too close to call.

Yang, who voted for Sanders in 2016, gave his support to the more moderate Biden.

“I believe that Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee, and I’ve always said I’m going to support whoever the nominee is. So I hereby am endorsing Joe Biden to be not just the nominee for the Democratic Party, but the next President of the United States,” Yang said on CNN where he is a political commentator.

“I say this having supported Bernie Sanders in 2016. Bernie was an inspiration for me, inspired my run. But the math says Joe is our prohibitive nominee. We need to bring the party together. We need to start working on defeating Donald Trump in the fall.”

Yang, who made his warnings of the "fourth industrial revolution" causing the loss of jobs part of the lexicon of the Democratic campaigns, said earlier that “The only person who has taken me aside and said that we need to worry about the fourth industrial revolution because it could potentially tear our country apart is Joe Biden.”

However, he cautioned Biden not to simply return to the Obama years.

“You can’t just say we’re gonna swing the pendulum back to the Obama/Biden years,” Yang said. “We have to actually start doing the work that activated people to vote for Donald Trump, that activated people to get out for Bernie Sanders. I believe Joe is open to that message.”

The New York-born entrepreneur said Biden shouldn't discount the supporters of progressive Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party should have a voice in a Biden administration.

Yang's endorsement of Biden follows similar announcements from former presidential candidates from Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Beto O'Rourke, all of whom support the former Vice President.

“We have to defeat Donald Trump in order to make progress on the climate, on any of these problems, in a bigger way,” Yang said

Presidential campaigns use Twitter for an town hall with AAPI communities

Presidential campaigns used social media to reach out to the AAPI electorate.

By Amy-Xiaoshi DePaola

ASAM NEWS

The Democratic presidential candidates took to Twitter to discuss AAPI-centered policy and and issues Thursday  afternoon.

The event was hosted by APIAVote and moderated by NBC Asian America, and included questions from NBC journalists and Asian American advocacy groups, such as The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, AAPI-Data, and the Asian American Journalists Association.

The participants were the campaigns of former Vice President Joe Biden; former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Sen. Bernie Sanders); businessman Tom Steyer, and Sen. Elizabeth Warr

Candidates answered questions such as how the AAPI community would be actively involved in policy decisions and the political landscape.

“We are one of the fastest-growing populations in the US, yet we are often left out of policy discussions and decision making,” the first question said. “How will you ensure #AAPI communities will have a seat at the table? How will you ensure we have a voice within your administration?”

All candidates said they would appoint diverse members in their administrations and in the courts, as well as listening to local leaders and communities, with Buttigieg and Warren pointing to Asian Americans in their own campaign staff.

“I’m proud to have the first Asian American campaign manager of any major presidential campaign,” Warren said in reference to Roger Lau.

Out of all the candidates, Warren broke down varied data on income equality among Asian Americans, with Hmong and Burmese women making around 50 cents a year, less than other Asian American populations and far less than white men.

“Income inequality in Asian-American communities has nearly doubled, and it’s now higher within the AAPI community than in any other racial or ethnic community,” she said in a press release after the event. “AAPI data helps us identify what’s broken, so we can decide how to fix it.”

However, Gabbard noted her status as “the only AAPI candidate running for President,” calling her district “the most diverse” with a majority Asian American population. The other Asian American candidates, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Sen. Kamala Harris (CA), have exited the race. (Yang’s campaign was going to be participating in the Twitter town hall, but dropped out in wake of their campaign suspension.)

PEW Research reports that Asian Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic population in the U.S., growing 72% between 2000 and 2015. In comparison, Hispanics are the second-fastest, increasing 60% during the same time span, with Asian immigrants are projected to overtake Latino immigrants in 2055 and become U.S.’s largest immigrant group.

Iowans kick off primary season tonight, Yang exudes confidence

IOWA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Iowa's voters go to their caucuses Monday night as they did in 2016.

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang told a gathering in Des Moines, Iowa that he will “shock” the nation with his performance in Monday night’s caucuses.

Yang is depending that he will be able to attract Republicans who are disappointed in Donald Trump even though they gave him their vote in 2016. In Iowa's caucus system, voters can switch parties the night of the caucus.
Tonight, Iowa voters kick off the primary election season by attending an evening caucus.

They'll try to convince their fellow voters to side with their favored candidates, count heads and decide which candidate will be awarded their delegates.

Unfortunately, people who work in the evening won't be able to take part in this particular democratic exercise. The state doesn't mandate employers to allow their workers to leave work in order to take part in the caucus. Parents who can't find childcare or if extreme weather prevents attendance or disabled voters can't access the caucus location are also barriers to participating in the Democratic process. As a result, in 2016 only about 18.5% of the state's eligible voters were able to take part.

Loud and effective speakers who can dominate the conversations have an undue influence on the voters to join their particular "cluster" to indicate their preference. A candidate must have at least 15% of the caucus goers in order to win a delegate. Those caucus goers whose candidates can't muster the 15%, must go to their second or third choice among the candidates who were able to reach that 15%.

Iowa is also one of the least ethnically diverse states in the country. And because it holds caucus meetings, not a primary election, its electorate is even less diverse because many poorer voters often do not have the free time to participate. In 2016, Iowa's Democratic caucus electorate was 91% non-Hispanic white. The Republicans was 97% non-Hispanic white..

It doesn't necessarily mean that Iowa voters won't vote for a candidate of color; they backed Obama in 2008 and 2012.

PEW reports that white adults account for a much larger share of Iowa’s population than is the case for the U.S. as a whole. Among Iowa’s 18-and-older population, 91.6% are white, versus 73.8% of all 18-and-older Americans, according to 2018 Census data. Black Americans make up 12.4% of the 18-and-older population but just 3.2% in Iowa; Hispanics, who can be of any race, are 16.2% of the U.S. 18-and-older population but only 4.8% in Iowa.

Despite increasing by more than 50% between 2009 and 2017, Asians make up only about 2% of the electorate.

Democrats have instituted some changes to increase participation, especially among minority voters.

"For the first time in a caucus cycle, we have a full-time AAPI [Asian American and Pacific Islander] and Latinx outreach director, and accessibility outreach director to help make sure all Iowans have the resources they need to caucus, including translation services at the caucuses," said Iowa Democratic Party communications director Mandy McClure in a statement that pointed out a number of other changes. "Expanding participation has been at the heart of all of these changes, and we will continue to work to look for ways to increase accessibility on caucus night."

Despite Yang's confidence, in the latest poll from Monmouth University, the first-time politician lagged far behind the frontrunners of Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The poll says Yang had support from 3% of likely caucus goers in Iowa and 4% of those Iowans indicated that he’d be their second choice.

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Editor's Note: 01/3/2020 11 a.m. Earlier versions of this post contained some editing errors. My apologies!