House Hunting: Update on AAPI Congressional candidates

Edited for clarification, Nov. 5, 10 a.m.

All of the AAPI incumbents serving in Congress who were up for re-election, won their races ... except for TJ Cox, who is still waiting for all the ballots to be counted.

Two new AAPI members of Congress will be representing Washington and Hawaii; and two more if they win their races in California. That's the good news.

The rest of the news was not so good for AAPI candidates or for the nation. TJ Cox, the first Filipino American Congressman elected in California is fighting for his life; and two strong Congressional candidates in Texas, Gina Ortiz Jones and Sri Preston Kulkarni, came up short; and 99% White Maine went with flailing Susan Collins, a Republican, over Sara Gideon, who looked strong before election day, 

Following are the results of the contested Congressional races, but not including the incumbents who won reelection easily.

The winners

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 10

With 90% of the vote counted, former Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland, a Korean American Democrat, won her race for Congress against State legislator Beth Doglio, another Democrat, with 50.2% of the vote vs. 35.9% She made history by becoming the first Korean American woman in Congress.

HAWAII, DISTRICT 2

Kai Kahele was declared a winner for the seat vacated by Tulsi Gabbard, easily beating his closest opponent, Republican Joe Akana, by a 2-to-1 margin. A colonel in the Hawaiian National Guard, Kahele was also serving in Hawaii's Senate before making the leap to Congress. Kahele will be only the third Native Hawaiian to serve in Congress since Hawaii became a state.

Too close to call

ARIZONA, DISTRICT 5

It is too close to call in the District 5 race. Dr. Hiral Tiperneni, a Indian American ER physician, was winning in the early going but lost that lead as more votes came in for Republican incumbent David Schweikert. With87% of the votes in, Schweikert was leading the race with 60.9% of the vote vs. Tiperneni's 49.1% -- separated by about 6,500 votes.

CALIFORNIA, DISTRICT 21

In 2018, Congressman TJ Cox was the last House race in the country to be finalized with the Filipino American narrowly beating incumbent Republican David Valadao by 862 votes Once again, this might be the tightest House race in the nation and it could be days before all the mail-in ballots are counted. With only 71% of the votes counted, Valadao has 51.4% of the vote compared to Cox's 48.6%, a difference of about 3,000 votes.

CALIFORNIA, DISTRICT 34

For a first-time candidate, teacher David Kim ran a good race with a well-thought-out platform, but he was unable to unseat fellow Democrat, incumbent Rep. Jimmy Gomez. Gomez was leading with 52.3% of the votes cast. Kim garnered 47.7% of the ballots in the southern California district.

CALIFORNIA DISTRICT 39

Incumbent Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros, in his first term, and Republican challenger Young Kim, a former state legislator, Wednesday were still in a tight race for the 39th Congressional District seat late Wednesday. Kim is part of Republican efforts to recapture the once all Republican seats of conservative Orange County. With 89.7% of precincts reporting, Kim was leading by less than a percentage point, 50.27% to 49.73%. Her lead was just over 1,500 Wednesday evening.

CALIFORNIA, DISTRICT 48

In conservative Orange County's 48th Congressional District, the race between incumbent Democrat Rep. Harley Rouda and Republican Michelle Steel, the chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, remains too close to call. With 93.98% of precincts reporting Wednesday evening, Vietnamese American Steele held onto a razor-thin lead over Rouda — 50.42% to 49.58%. The candidates are separated by about 2,800 votes. It was unclear how many of the mail-in ballots remain to be counted.

So close, but ...

Gina Ortiz Jones conceded early Wednesday to Republican Tony Gonzalez, a Navy veteran and college professor. "I want to thank each and every grassroots supporter, volunteer, and member of my staff who poured their heart into our campaign," said Jones, a Filipino American. "I am so proud of the race we ran, and it is our shared commitment to fighting for working families in South and West Texas that continues to give me hope." District 23 runs an 800-mile stretch from San Antonio to El Paso, and along the U.S.-Mexico border. Rep. Will Hurd decided not to run for reelection, making this seat up for grabs but the GOP poured money in the race to keep the seat Republican.

TEXAS, DISTRICT 22

Sri Preston Kulkarni, whose campaign really drummed up excitement in the Asian American community, especially the immigrants from South Asia who were beginning to flex their political muscle in the suburban district. But with 88% of the vote counted, he fell short to Republican candidate and Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehl for Texas' vacant 22nd district seat. The seat was up for grabs after Republican Rep. Pete Olson announced his retirement in 2019. With all the excitement Kulkarni generated his loss was perhaps the most disappointing for AAPI activists but perhaps changed local politics forever. His concession statement: "Over the past three years, we built the most diverse and inclusive grassroots campaign for Congress Texas has ever seen, with more faiths, more ethnic and linguistic communities represented in our coalition than anything we have ever seen before.

"Our work doesn’t end today. This campaign is about all of us, not any one person running for office, and about the potential we have to restore reason, compassion and decency in our society. We must all continue to hold people in power accountable and stand up against extremism, cruelty, and hate mongering ... I promise you that we’re not done fighting for our future.”

VIRGINIA, DISTRICT 1

Democrat Qasim Rashid, seeking to become the first Pakistani American in Congress, failed to beat incumbent Rob Whittman. The Republican won easily with 58.4% of the vote and Rashid won 41.5%

MAINE, U.S. SENATE

Sara Gideon, an Indian American, presented a serious challenge to incumbent Susan Collins, who drew the ire of the nation's women and the Democratic Party for voting for Brett Kavanaugh for the US Supreme Court. Collins is Lucy with the football and the Democrats is Charlie Brown. She tries to present an independent image but disappoints Dems by voting with the GOP most of the time. Gideon, according to the polls, was leading in Maine but when Maine's voters went to the polls, they decided to go with the familiar face. Gideon trailed the moment Maine began counting the ballots. In the end, she was able to win only 42.3% of the vote as Collins won convincingly with 51.1%.

New York's Grace Meng retains her seat in Congress, newcomer Qasim Rashid will challenge in Virginia

TWITTER

Congressmember Grace Meng, left, campaigned with her family on election day.

The primary elections Tuesday in New York and Virginia introduced some new Asian American faces to the political landscape in those two states.

With some mail-in ballots yet to be counted, Rep. Grace Meng has enough votes to safely be declared the winner for New York's 6th Congressional District primary Tuesday.

"So grateful for the overwhelming show of support for our campaign," she tweeted late Tuesday. "While we must wait until all votes have been counted, I'm confident that our grassroots support will lead us to victory. I dedicated my career to fighting for Queens families & I’m ready to continue that fight.

At last count, the four-term member of Congress was leading with 61 percent of the vote, prevailing over Democratic rivals Sandra Choi and Melquiades Gagarin with 74 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press.

It marked the first time that Meng has faced primary challengers since taking office, as a number of progressive Democrats challenged House incumbents this campaign cycle.

In November, Meng will face Republican Thomas Zmich, who ran unopposed in his primary.

Meanwhile, in the neighboring 12th District which includes parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, its still to close to tell. Incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who has been in Congress 25 years, narrowly leads attorney Suraj Patel. The 75-year old Maloney held an edge of less than 2 percentage points over Patel on Wednesday morning.

Down ballot, New York Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou (D-Financial District, Chinatown) secured a decisive victory over Grace Lee in last night’s primary.

According to the unofficial numbers, Niou nabbed 56.77 percent of the vote in District 65 – more than 20 percent higher than Lee’s 35.41 percent margin.

“I’m so proud and incredibly grateful to my hardworking team, countless volunteers, and every New Yorker who cast their ballot in this very unusual and challenging election,” said Niou. “I am proud of our campaign, putting our grassroots support up against a flood of money from Wall Street and the 1%.

Incumbent Democrat, Assemblymember Ron Kim easily won his race with 63% of the vote of District 40, which encompasses the New York borough of Queens, where Asian Americans make up 26% of the population.

Two progressive Democrats who had the backing of Congresswoman Alajandra Ocasio-Cortez will be taking seats in the New York Assembly.

JENEFIR RAJKUMAR

In Queens’ Assembly District 38, challenger Jenifer Rajkumar led incumbent Michael Miller 52 percent to 25 percent with more than 80 percent of the votes in. If she holds on to her lead, the former staffer for Gov. Cuomo would become the first Indian American to be elected to the New York Assembly.

Meanwhile in AD 36 (Astoria, Long Island City) favorite Ugandan Indian Zohran Mamdani leads incumbent Aravella Simotas by seven percentage points with more than 75% of the vote counted. 

For complete primary election results for New York, click here.

In Virginia, a Pakistani American attorney, won the Democratic primary to challenge the Republican incumbent, Rep. Rob Wittman. 

QASIM RASHID

With 99% of the vote counted, Qasim Rashid had almost 53% of the vote in Congressional District 1 over rival Lavangelene Williams.

After Rashid was declared winner, he recalled his journey overcoming bias in his tweet: 

"10 years ago a major law firm rescinded a job offer b/c I was 'too Muslim' & would “make clients uncomfortable. "Last night I became the first American Muslim in Virginia history to win a Congressional primary election. "That firm has since folded. "My fight for justice won’t stop."


For complete Virginia primary election results, click here.