Asian American voters can be difference makers in Georgia

Georgia's AAPI community were energized by the 2020 Presidential race.

Now that it has been established by a host of mainstream media that the Asian American vote helped push Georgia towards Democrat Joe Biden, a coalition of AAPI organizations are joining the Democratic Party to replicate the Nov. 3 record turnout in order to elect the two Democratic candidates to the U.S. Senate.

The stakes are enormous. If Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock beat incumbent Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, Democrats would wrest control of the Senate from Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. If the GOP keeps the majority in the Senate, the upper house would make it difficult for Biden to pass major legislation and reform,

FiveThirty-eight has both races a virtual toss-up with only .1 or .2 percentage points separating the candidates, well within the margin of error.

This year, Georgia saw a 91% increase in AAPI voter turnout over 2016, and exit polls showed Asian American voters preferred Joe Biden to Donald Trump by a 2 to 1 margin. 

Surveys show that 42,000 more AAPI voters voted in 2020 over 2016;  more than 30,000 of those voters voted for the first time ever.  Biden's winning margin was only 14,000 votes.

It's no wonder that the Democratic Party is concentrating to improve those numbers and Republicans are trying their best to dissuade AAPI voters from casting their ballots.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who is of Black and South Asian heritage, campaigned in Georgia Monday (Dec. 21) to energize African American and Asian American voters. Her visit comes a week after Joe Biden came to the state.

Republicans have countered with Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, an Indian American.

One of the stops on Harris' itinerary was supposed to be in Suwanee, is located in Gwinett County – a county the president narrowly won in November 49.6% to 48.4%. CBS News voter files show that 17% of registered voters in the county are Asian American, a number that is higher than the state's average.However, that stop was canceled because she had to return to Washington to vote on the $900-billion stimulus bill.

But in Columbus, she was greeted with large energetic crowds. “As far as I’m concerned Georgia — Columbus — 2020 ain’t over until Jan. 5,” said Harris. “That’s when 2020 will be over. That’s when we’ll get this thing done. Because as you know, everything is at stake.”

Andrew Yang, former Democratic Presidential candidate, was among the first Asian American "names" to go all in to encourage AAPI voters to take part in the runoffs. He hosted rallies and coffee gatherings with AAPI Georgians for both Ossoff and Warnock.

“The Democratic Party couldn’t win the presidency or the Senate without Asian Americans," said IMPACT Executive Director Neil Makhija.

IMPACT, an Indian American advocacy and political action committee, has launched a historic $2.5 million campaign to turnout Asian American voters in Georgia ahead of the January 5 Senate runoffs. The funds will be spent on digital, mail, and turnout operations.

"In November, South Asian and Asian American voters were the critical difference between victory and defeat in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona," Makhija said. "The numbers are striking: Asian Americans increased turnout more than any other demographic, nearly doubling in Georgia. Asian Americans are becoming a core constituency of the Democratic Party, but they can’t be taken for granted.”

Some groups have started to focus on the AAPI vote in Georgia since Nov. 3. The AAPI Victory Fund launched a full scale Senatorial campaign in rural Georgia to mobilize the AAPI vote for Ossoff and Warnock.

“This Southern strategy has since paid off, but much work into infrastructure remains and particularly into identifying AAPI voter sub-ethnicities in order to properly target our voters. 

"In the 2020 election where Biden won Georgia by only 12,000 votes, there were 30,500 who were first-time AAPI voters. ... At least 15,000 rural AAPI voters came out to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," said the Victory Fund in a statement.

According to a study by by the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund, 68% of Asian Americans were contacted by a campaign, a political party or a community organization, compared to just over 50% of Asian Americans nationwide. 

Sam Park, Georgia's first Democrat state legislator of Korean American descent,  said that during the general election, the party and both candidates put forth coordinated multilingual outreach programs, conducted in-language phone banks and invested in ads in ethnic media. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made a six-figure investment, hiring organizers to contact Georgia's communities of color, including Asian Americans.

"They've got some great folks on the ground who know what they're doing. They know how to organize within the Asian American community," Park told NBC News. "But also, I think, which is important to note, they have long-standing ties and relationships to Asian American communities, given that they're from these communities here in Georgia."

Anjali Enjeti, who co-leads the Georgia chapter of the mobilization group They See Blue, said the key to wooing Asian American voters, they say: a candidate they respect with a coherent plan for the pandemic.

“That's going to get them to the polls more than saying, ‘Oh, we need to flip the Senate and dethrone [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell,’” Enjeti told Politico.

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

Bilingual outreach was effective in reaching out to AAPI voters.

This week, They See Blue launched in-language phone banking in Punjabi, Gujarati, Nepali, and Telegu. They also, along with other Asian American groups in the state, deployed door knockers as early voting got underway -- three weeks out from the election, according to Politico.

Person-to-person outreach is critical for new AAPI voters. Before the last Presidential election campaign, neither major party paid attention to the community. But the Biden-Harris ticket and growing anti-Trump sentiment among younger voters pushed staffers and volunteers in community groups such as AAsian American Advocacy Fund and Advancing Justice-Atlanta to produce multi-lingual campaign material; bilingual door-knockers canvassed Asian neighborhoods speaking to voters in Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and any number of Asian Indian languages.

"Language access is always a big thing for us," Yaqoob Mahmood of the Asian American Advocacy Fund told NPR. "We also make sure that outreach is available, and when we're knocking on doors, or talking to voters on the phone, that we have in-language volunteers and staff making those calls, but also having two way communication to let voters know that they can always reach back out to us if they have questions."

An important turning point for Asian-American voters came in 2018, several Democratic activists said, when Stacey Abrams in her race for governor had a staff member assigned to Asian immigrant communities. Exit polls later showed that 78 percent of Asian-American voters cast their ballots for her.

But what made the turnout in Georgia unique, said Aisha Yaqoob Mahmood, director of the Asian American Advocacy Fund, was that coalition-building across community groups eventually paid off. Through multilingual, multiethnic, multigenerational organizations, she said, the communities in the state were able to chart a new path.

As community organizations across cultures focused on issues from immigration reform to ending cash bail to getting police out of schools, Mahmood told NBC News, people of color were able to see changes occurring.

"I think the biggest value in our work is not just in how we organized in Asian American communities, but the way that we build community with other Black and Brown voters. That's the story for Georgia," she said.

"It's not just Asian voters," NBC reported her saying. "It's how Asian Americans, Latinos and Black voters really changed the electorate and changed the future of our state, and the future of our country. ... It's always tied into how can we make sure that we're achieving these victories for all of our Black and brown brothers and sisters."

“There’s a saying that the Asian American community has gone from being a marginalized community to being the margin of victory,” said Assemblyman Park. “That could be very true here in Georgia.” 

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

Biden could help Dems take Georgia's Senate seats by nominating an AAPI to his Cabinet

Asian Americans helped flip Georgia to Joe Biden last Nov. 3.

ANALYSIS

For all the wrong reasons, the Huffington Post headline grabbed my attention: "Biden Transition Team Won’t Commit To Asian American Cabinet Secretary."

In a meeting with 19 members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus last week, the President-elect Joe Biden's transition team was careful to not show their hand.

AAPI members of Congress want the transition team to acknowledge the support from Asian American voters. They complain that too often, Asian Americans are left out of conversations about a range of policies — including immigration — a source told Vox. There have also been concerns that there were no AAPI co-chairs on Biden’s transition and inauguration efforts.

Numerous sources including Stacey Abrams, the woman most credited for turning out the vote in Georgia, admit that Biden would not have won Georgia if not for the massive turnout of the AAPI electorate. Abrams, numerous AAPI organizations are hoping for a similar turnout on Jan. 5. 

“The surge in Asian American turnout — especially amongst first-time, younger Asian American voters — helped Biden flip the state,” said Sam Park, Georgia’s first Democratic AAPI state legislator. “If Rev. Warnock and Jon Ossoff are to be successful, turnout amongst the Asian American community will be critical.”

At stake is control of the U.S. Senate. if the two Senate seats go to the Democrats, they would have a majority in the Senate and they could remove Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, the major roadblock to the incoming administration passing the legislation to fulfill its campaign promises.

With Georgia's Senate runoff elections only weeks away, Biden could help energize the state's AAPI voters with a selection of an Asian American or two to Cabinet Secretary status and thusly, possibly guarantee a clear road for the Democrats' legislative efforts, if Georgia's Senate seats flip to the Dems.

Biden made history when he picked Indian American Kamala Harris as his running mate. The excitement of his selection swept through the Asian American community produced the highest turnout of AAPI voters ever in the early voting and on Nov. 3 just a few weeks ago. In key districts around the country, the small, but overwhelming preference for Biden and Harris pushed swing districts into the Democrats' camp.

That initial euphoria is gone now. The enticing promises of having a Cabinet that "looked like America"  -- yes, we're including Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders along with Blacks and Latinos --- have dissipated into frustration and disappointment. Thus far, most of Biden's Cabinet nominations have gone to the same ol' white men Biden has worked with in the past -- experts in their fields but nevertheless, friends and loyalists.

Thus far, Biden has nominated Neera Tanden — who is the president of the Center for American Progress and is of Indian descent — as director of the Office of Management and Budget; and Katherine Tai as his Trade Representative, both important positions but not one considers as high as a post of Secretary rank.

Tanden's nominations has created the most controversy of all of Biden's picks because she had dared call out the hypocrisy of Republican senators. Her nomination is iffy, at best.

Biden wants Dr. Vivek Murthy, an Indian American, as his Surgeon General but CAPAC members point out that the Surgeon General is not a member of the President's Cabinet. The transition team made it clear that it is not likely the position would be elevated to Cabinet-level, a suggestion made by CAPAC.

Among the names being recommended by CAPAC is California Labor Secretary Julie Su, the daughter of Chinese immigrants and a longtime advocate for low-wage workers, to lead Biden’s Labor Department; and California’s transportation chief David Kim as the Department of Transportation Secretary..

The Caucus points out that previous administrations -- even Trump's -- have had more AAPI representation among Cabinet Secretaries:  three in the Obama administration; two in the Trump administration.

“It is vital that those in the highest positions in the executive branch of government reflect the great diversity of our nation, and that includes the selection of AAPIs for Cabinet positions,” Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), the first vice chair of CAPAC, told Vox in a statement. “The Biden administration should not go backwards. It should be more diverse and inclusive than past administrations, not less.”

Making the AAPI members of Congress more impatient is that there are only nine Secretary-level posts left.

AAPI lawmakers are not the only ones seeking better representation in the Biden administration. Other interest groups are pressuring Biden for better presence in the Cabinet, as candidates for more positions — including attorney general, agriculture secretary, labor secretary, and transportation secretary — are named.

The cultural concept of indebtedness -- and returning that debt -- is shared among many Asian cultures. The strength of that more survived the trip across the Pacific. It still exerts a powerful feeling and affects decision-making among Asian Americans. Since Nov. 3, how AAPI voting surge for Biden appears to have been at best, forgotten; or, at worst, shrugged off. 

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA, was among those Congressmembers who expressed dismay at the disappointing response of Biden's transition team, she said. “Frankly, it feels extremely disrespectful to the AAPI community.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

Georgia On My Mind: AAPI voters could decide who will rule the U.S. Senate

NPR

ANALYSIS:

Asian American voters played a key role in battleground states, according to exit polls taken during the Nov. 3 elections, according to an analysis by a an AAPI advocacy coalition. They can again play a crucial role in Georgia's Jan. 5 runoff elections for U.S. Senate.

Georgia's two senate  runoff between the GOP's Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock and Republican Sen. David Perdue against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoffs could determine which party will have the majority in the U.S. Senate during Joe Biden's first term as President starting Jan. 20, 2021.

Bloomberg News quoted  Sam Park, the first Asian American Democrat elected to the Georgia General Assembly: “There’s a saying that the Asian American community has gone from being a marginalized community to being the margin of victory.That could be very true here in Georgia.”

New data released by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) noted the importance of the AAPI vote in Georgia and three other battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada.

“Asian Americans, especially new voters, were part of the record turnout of communities of color in the 2020 elections. Asian American voters played an important role in close races in several battleground states, and our voices must not be overlooked in the political process,” said AALDEF Executive Director Margaret Fung.

Except for the Vietnamese and Hmong communities, all other Asian ethnic groups and nationalities voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over the Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

The four states in the survey, which for voted for Trump in 2016, flipped and went Democratic earlier this month.

The states were among the last counted and their electoral votes pushed Biden-Harris over the top, giving him enough electoral votes to proclaim the Democrats victors in the closer-than-expected presidential contest.

Georgia's flip is a tribute to the groundwork in registering voters by Stacey Abrams, a former member of the state's House of Representatives and who barely lost in her gubernatorial bid. 

None of the state's top-two vote-getters in the Senate races achieved more than 50% of the votes so by state law, a runoff is necessary. Survey findings may give an indication how Georgia's AAPI electorate will vote in the Jan. 5 runoff. 

The Asian American population has soared in counties surrounding Atlanta in recent years, drawn to the area by jobs in tech, science and medicine. The surge in AAPI voters -- almost a quarter million registered voters, or about 5% of the total voters -- have made them a critical demographic for politicians and marketers.

Highlights of the AALDEF survey of AAPI voters in Georgia:

• Asian Americans decisively chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a margin of 62% to 36%.
• In the U.S. Senate races, Asian Americans voted for Democratic candidates over Republicans by a margin of 61% to 34%.
• All Asian ethnic groups in the state supported Biden over Trump except for Korean American voters (60% for Trump and 39% for Biden).
• Among voters not enrolled in any party, the breakout was 63% for Biden and 30% for Trump, and among voters affiliated with other parties, 60% for Biden and 20% for Trump.
• First-time voters supported Biden by a wide margin 61% to 36%.

For the Presidential election, AAPI voters turned out in historic numbers. Despite facing a pandemic, hours-long lines at the polls, language barriers, and heightened fear and intimidation about voting, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities overcame unacceptable barriers to exercise their right to vote. 

Leaning heavily towards Democrats, the chief concerns of AAPI voters are in line with most other Democrats centering on economic issues income inequality and the call for higher taxes on the rich, pollsters say.

They heard the racist rhetoric from the White House and aware of the rise of attacks against their kids in school, the flagging economy shutting down their businesses and the toll the coronavirus has taken on healthcare providers.

Early voting was favored by many of elderly who had to overcome their fear of contracting COVID-19 in order to cat their ballots. 

"Being able to cast my vote with an absentee ballot means my voice still counts.” said 76-year-old Ok Hui Kim, who chose to vote absentee to decrease the risk of being exposed to the virus

The high vote total among AAPI can be attributed to an aggressive and unprecedented multi-lingual registration and get-out-the-vote drive. In the three months prior to the November vote, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta (Advancing Justice-Atlanta) dialed 92% of the estimated 238,000 eligible AAPI voters across the state. 

AAPI communities across Georgia showed up to vote early and began Election Day having already flexed our power - 50% of registered Asian American voters had already cast their ballots, increasing turnout by 141% since 2016. In Gwinnett County alone, there were three times more AAPI early voters than in 2016, over 30,000 compared to 9,500. Of those, 43% did not vote in 2012, 2016 or 2018, according to Advancing Justice. 

Besides having an impact on the Presidential and Georgia's U.S. Senate races, the huge turnout helped elect Marvin Lim, the first Filipino American to the state legislature. Lim won the primary with 62% of the vote and since the GOP didn't have a candidate to run against him, Lim's Nov. 7 victory was a foregone conclusion.

Lim will represent House District 99, an Atlanta suburb comprised of 85% minorities, 53% of whom are immigrants.

The nation's attention will be on Georgia this Jan. 5, 2021. Both Republicans and Democrats are mobilizing their people and devoting resources to the runoff contest. Already, 6e00,000 voters have requested absentee ballots, tweeted Abrams.

Georgians who didn’t get signed up in time to cast ballots in the Nov. 3 presidential election now have until Dec. 7 to register to vote in the Jan. 5 runoffs. Early voting for the runoffs starts Dec. 14 after a record of nearly 5 million Georgians voted in the general election. Qualified voters can register online with a valid ID through the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

Democrats worry that without Donald Trump on the ballot to motivate anti-Trump voters, it will be difficult to energize Democratic voters for the Jan. 5 runoffs. Historically, conservative voters tend to turn out more in extra-inning contests.

Andrew Yang, a Presidential candidate during the Democratic primaries, said he'll be going to Georgia to help drum up excitement in the January election. “It looks like Democrats have an uphill climb in Georgia,” Yang told Yahoo Finance Live last week. “It seems like it’s because Democratic voters actually need a little bit more awareness raising to the fact that there is a special election on January 5, and conservatives are more plugged in to voting in Georgia.”

“The case to make in Georgia is exactly identical to the case that was just made with Joe at the top line,” continued Yang. He argues that the Democrats message should be getting a functional government.  “In this case, we need to deliver a Senate that will actually be looking to pass laws and not have a replay of Mitch McConnell being the obstructionist during the Obama years.”

 “AAPI communities are showing up at the polls and redefining what Georgia’s electorate looks like, said Stephanie Cho, executive director of Advancing Justice-Atlanta. "As the nation’s fastest growing population of immigrants eligible to vote, AAPI communities in Georgia will continue to grow in influence. We are only just beginning to come into our power. We will continue to show up and vote up and down the ballot for our issues, our rights, and our communities.” 

DNC: A number of AAPI help nominate Joe Biden to become the Democrats' nominee for POTUS

DNC

Dr. Amy Agbayani, announced Hawaii's votes for Joe Biden from Wiakiki.

UPDATED: Aug. 22, to include Bianca Shah of Maryland.

One of the surprising highlights of Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention was the roll call of states in nominating the Democrat's POTUS nominee, who turned out to be Joe Biden.

A number if AAPI took part in the virtual roll call from their respective states and territories. AAPI, who had been largely absent from the political proceedings until Tuesday, took part in the colorful roll call, which showed the diversity and beauty within the Democratic Party and the the United States. 

Earlier, Sam Park took part in a segment highlighted to the up-and-coming leaders within the Democratic Party. Korean American Park, who is openly gay, is running for Georgia's House of Representatives,

AMERICAN SAMOA

Party leaders Aliitama Sotoa and Petti Matila, with two masked uniformed soldiers flanking them, celebrated American Samoa’s legacy of military service .

COLORADO

Immigrant and party activist Howard Chou and his family discussed the challenges facing working parents during the pandemic.

GUAM
Party chair Sarah Thomas-Nededog celebrated the 70th anniversary of Guam citizens becoming American citizens.

HAWAII
Civil rights activist Dr. Amy Agbayani, who was born in the Philippines, offered a special personal message to American immigrants working in the frontlines against the coronavirus.

MARYLAND

20-year old Indian American Bianca Shah, leader of the Joe Biden campaign’s youth outreach to South Asians,

NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

Party chair Nola Kileleman Hix described her organizing efforts as the young leader of the party in the NMI. 

The Territory of Northern Mariana Islands cast its votes. 

VIRGINIA

Activist Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father of an army captain killed in action in Iraq in 2004,  reflected on the racial violence that claimed a life in his beloved home city of Charlottesville.

WASHINGTON

State Rep. My-Linh Thai, a former refugee, shared her commitment to the public schools that gave her a chance to contribute to her new home. "Democrast invest in education because we're committed to fighting for all kids," she said.