Newsletter subscribers get early access to exclusive stories like this one. Sign up here to receive The Yappie's weekly briefing on Asian American politics and support our work by making a donation.
YAPPIE EXCLUSIVE—More than 1,100 Asian American and Pacific Islander politicians, activists, artists, business leaders, and other prominent community members are throwing their support behind Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the final days of the campaign, according to a list obtained by The Yappie.
The endorsements include hundreds of current and former AAPI elected officials, Democratic Party leadership, and high-profile candidates—many who have already been campaigning for Biden for months. And as expected, virtually every AAPI member of Congress and Democrats at all levels are on the record with their support for the former vice president.
But the diverse and wide-ranging list, organized by Democratic National Committee AAPI Caucus Chair Bel Leong-Hong, also highlights representatives from the arts and entertainment world who rarely express public support for political candidates. For example, it features Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Amerie, Gold House chairman and co-founder Bing Chen, fashion designer Phillip Lim, and Stephen Gong, the Executive Director at the Center for Asian American Media.
Other noteworthy additions appear to be individuals who have participated in Biden campaign events or just want to make their support official. These include journalist Connie Chung, ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ author Jenny Han (who previously backed Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president), Agents of SHIELD star Chloe Bennet (one of the creatives at a nonprofit The Yappie profiled earlier this month), iconic playwright David Henry Hwang, Angry Asian Man blogger Phil Yu, and designers Prabal Gurung, Humberto Leon, and Carol Lim.
Policy experts, business and religious leaders, medical professionals (such as former acting U.S. Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu), and local community activists have their own dedicated sections.
The Democratic National Committee rolled out an initial wave of 250 AAPI endorsements on July 17 after groups like the AAPI Victory Fund, CAPA21, the Asian American Action Fund, and Rep. Grace Meng's (D-New York) ASPIRE PAC coalesced around Biden earlier this year.
The list reviewed by The Yappie constitutes the long-awaited second wave of endorsements, which has been in the works for months. While originally slated to be just another 250 names, the timeline was repeatedly pushed back to accommodate more endorsements. The final list adds more than 900 signatures and totals nearly 1,200.
“Never before has the AAPI community banded together with such unity and excitement in a presidential election,” Leong-Hong said in a statement provided to The Yappie. “We are made up of almost 20 different ethnic groups yet are united in our resounding support for Biden and Harris to lead our country and world out of the mess Trump has created. We come from all different walks of life, with separate languages, culture and heritage, but we share the same hopes and dreams for a better future.”
“I applaud the Biden-Harris campaign’s historical outreach efforts to the AAPI community to make sure they are engaged, empowered and represented,” she continued. “We are all proud to vote for Joe Biden and Kamal to be the next President and Vice President of the United States.”
Growing enthusiasm
The endorsements come as the presidential race enters its last stretch—with all signs pointing to historic increases in Asian American voter participation.
The 2020 Asian American Voter Survey, conducted by the nonpartisan research firm AAPI Data and published by a trio of AAPI groups in September, found that more than half of registered Asian American voters were more enthusiastic about voting this election cycle. A separate survey presented this week by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group also found that AAPI voters in ten battleground states appear to be “highly motivated.”
Advocacy groups have long insisted that AAPI voters could be the margin of victory in states like Arizona, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, and that a surge in turnout could deliver crucial wins for Democratic candidates in Texas and California.
Early numbers look exceptionally promising. KVUE reported Tuesday that 621,765 Asian Americans who did not vote in 2016 have cast their ballot this cycle, a 34% increase. The Texas-based TV station cited the voter database Catalist, which further noted a staggering 400% increase in participation among the 18 to 29-year-old demographic.
Tom Bonier, CEO of the political data firm TargetSmart, tweeted Wednesday that Asian voters in Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina have already cast more ballots than they did during the entirety of the 2016 election. Asian voters have also seen an uptick in their share of the early vote in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Nevada, according to CNN.
Flurry of ads
Whether the endorsements will be enough to activate unregistered Asian American voters remains to be seen, but Democratic groups have already gone to unprecedented lengths to court AAPIs.
The DNC announced the rollout of a multilingual ethnic media campaign aimed at reaching one million AAPI voters in battleground states last Wednesday, and outside organizations like the AAPI Victory Fund and the New American Voices PAC’s Asian Americans Against Trump project have continued to release a steady stream of translated ads and graphics.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is charged with electing Democrats to the House, is also investing seven figures to blanket California, Nevada, Texas, Georgia, New York, and New Jersey with print, TV, radio, and digital ads encouraging key AAPI communities to vote.
The Biden campaign’s AAPI arm sent an email to supporters on Tuesday touting its own seven-figure paid media buys and targeted AAPI ethnic media outreach, including a 45-second spot titled “The America We Love” and op-eds in the World Journal, Viet Bao, and India West.
The campaign now has at least 12 full-time AAPI directors, more than 14 affinity groups, and is distributing materials in 19 AAPI languages.
Graphic by Kristie-Valerie Hoang.
The Yappie is your must-read briefing on Asian American power, politics, and influence. Make a donation, subscribe, and follow us on Twitter (@theyappie). Send tips, ideas, events, job/internship postings, and projects to [email protected].
