I am very hopeful about the prospect of seeing an Asian American woman in the U.S. Senate for the first time – it is possible if Mazie Hirono wins her election in Hawaii. If elected, she would likely be the only woman of color in the Senate. She is running as a Democrat against a well funded Republican candidate though in a race targeted by conservative pac money.
I’m also excited to see new Asian American talent rising on the political scene as well. I was in Houston and had the opportunity to meet two exciting young Asian American candidates for the Texas state legislature, Gene Wu, who won the Democratic primary for District 137 which covers part of Houston and Vy Nguyen, who won the Democratic primary for District 26 which covers part of Fort Bend/Sugarland, a suburb of Houston. Both are attorneys.
In a district that leans Democrat, Gene is running against M.J. Khan, a Republican who has served on the Houston City Council. To learn more about Gene, go to www.genefortexas.com. Vy is running against a Tea Party candidate. Her district is one of the districts affected by the Voting Rights Act litigation and depending on where the lines end up, leans Republican but is around 30% Asian American with also a significant Hispanic population. To learn more about Vy, go to www.vyfortexas.com.
It is a very exciting electoral season for Asian Americans. A record number of Asian Americans also launched campaigns for Congress with many of them winning their primaries, with a good chance of winning in November if they can raise sufficient funds to turn out the vote. The Los Angeles Times did a great story featuring a map with names. http://mobile.latimes.com/p.p?a=vpi&postId=2656864&m=b&mfId=2860904&sessionToken=&postUserId=7
Please check it out and support who you can this year. It can very much be our time.