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AAPIs make up roughly 2.75% of the electorate in Wisconsin, according to a 2024 report from APIAVote and AAPI Data.
That may seem like a small percentage, but in a battleground state such as Wisconsin, the hundreds of thousands of AAPIs who are eligible to vote could make the difference in this year’s presidential election.
Vice President Kamala Harris currently leads former President Donald Trump by 1 percentage point, per FiveThirthyEight’s polling analysis.
Trump and Harris’ campaigns have both made multiple stops in Wisconsin in the last two months, although Trump has focused on East Coast states such as Pennsylvania, New York and North Carolina, whereas Harris has campaigned more in swing states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin the most, according to the New York Times.
Voter demographics
The largest AAPI ethnic group in Wisconsin is the Hmong community, which comprises more than a third of the state’s AAPI electorate and is continuing to grow, according to APIA Vote. The state has one of the largest Hmong populations in the country, alongside California and Minnesota.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) signed a new bill into law earlier this year requiring K-12 public schools to teach Asian American and specifically Hmong history, reflecting the local influence and importance of the Hmong community.
Indian and Filipino Americans are the second- and third-largest ethnic groups, respectively.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s AAPI voter eligibility, like in other battleground states, increased by 32.1% from 2012 to 2022.
In the campaigns
- During the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Harris took a brief trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to hold one of her campaign’s biggest rallies, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Speaking to a crowd of over 18,000, she blasted Trump’s plan to make cuts to Medicare and Social Security and give tax breaks to big corporations. “We are not going back. We will move forward. Just like Wisconsin’s state motto tells us,” she said.
- She returned to Wisconsin this week with former Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, making a stop in Waukesha County to emphasize Trump’s threat to the nation. Waukesha is a traditionally deep red county near Milwaukee but has seen some inroads from Democrats in recent years.
- Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff also stumped for Harris at the Hmong Wausau Festival in central Wisconsin in July. Meanwhile, support for Walz among Hmong Americans and other AAPIs in the state could give Democrats a boost.
- Trump’s outreach in Wisconsin has primarily comprised of attacks on the migrant influx at the southern border and personal insults. Heading into October, he visited the state four times in eight days. His campaign and outside groups supporting his candidacy outspent Harris and her allies on advertising in Wisconsin as of Oct. 1.
- At one rally in early October, Trump repeatedly criticized Harris’ handling of taxes, tariffs, and inflation. “Wisconsin voters know that only President Trump can Make America Affordable Again,” his campaign said in a news release.
- Polling shows that the economy is top of mind for both Wisconsin voters and AAPIs nationwide. According to an AAPI Data/AP-NORC poll, inflation is the top issue on the mind of AAPI adults over immigration and the environment, with 31% calling it a top priority for 2024.
- His running mate, J.D. Vance, has also spent time in Wisconsin with a platform attacking the Democratic Party’s approaches to crime and safety issues, Rachel Hale of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
On the ground
Members of the AAPI Coalition of Wisconsin participated in a Harris-Walz ad that attacked Trump for wanting to “terminate” the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The ad highlights the fact that ACA reduced the number of uninsured AANHPIs by 63%, per June data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“It’s definitely a different energy this time around, better than 2020. Especially with Harris … on a ticket now, really boosts our energy and to get out there and vote,” Thay Yang, CEO of a Hmong news station in Milwaukee, told The Hill’s Yash Roy about the Harris campaign’s efforts to reach Hmong American voters in Wisconsin.
“I also identify as a queer woman who has a family and understanding that all could be in jeopardy if we don’t elect the right person for this,” Lindsey Vang, who is Hmong, said to WUWM 89.7 FM’s Chuck Quirmbach in September.
“I think our country has seemed to go a little bit backwards when it comes to reproductive rights. So, I’m excited to see how she (Harris) takes on that challenge,” Aashi Iyengar, who is Indian, added at the same radio show.
The national organization APIAVote has also been working with the nonprofit Freedom Inc. and other local organizations to engage AAPI voters in Wisconsin by sending mail and phone banking, APIAVote Executive Director Christine Chen told The Daily Cardinal earlier this year.
“Our community is not only growing in size, but we can make a huge impact in a number of battleground states,” Chen said. “A number of folks were not even thinking about our community [in these areas] 10 or 20 years ago.”
Though Wisconsin historically had a Republican-led state legislature, Evers signed new electoral maps into law earlier this year that weakened Republican advantages in the state Senate and Assembly and created a more even split between the two parties.
“The old maps guaranteed very large GOP majorities even in terrible Republican years,” political analyst Craig Gilbert wrote in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The new maps give Democrats a realistic chance to win legislative control.”
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