Asian-Americans scored critical victories in US legislative elections as they rode on the wave of a Democratic comeback and displayed political clout beyond traditional strongholds in California and Hawaii.
As victorious Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives and Senate in Tuesday's polls, the Asian-American community added another crucial seat in the House and expanded their influence in state legislatures.
Democrat Mazie Hirono, a Japanese-American former lieutenant governor, beat a state senator in Hawaii to become the seventh representative from the Asian-American community in the House of Representatives.
She will be the first Japan-born American to serve in the House.
Several other Asian-American lawmakers scored big victories to retain their seats, including sole senator from the community, Daniel Akaka, a Japanese-American, in Hawaii.
Others included House law-makers Chinese-American David Wu in Oregon as well as Japanese-Americans Michael Honda and Doris Matsui in California.
Bobby Jindal, who became the first Indian-American in 2004 to enter the House of Representatives, also retained his Republican seat with ease in Louisiana.
"This election underscores a new reality in American politics," said Toby Chaudhuri, spokesman for Campaign for America's Future, a think tank.
"Asian Americans can run for office and win -- not just in traditional Asian-American population centers like Hawaii and California, but in states like Ohio, Iowa, Texas and Kansas," he said.
Numbering 14 million, Asian-Americans make up only about 4 percent of the 300 million US population but their votes were seen critical in about 100 of the 435 congressional districts, said William Marumoto, president of the Asian-Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.
The US Census Bureau says the community's population could jump to 40 million or more in the next 50 years.
"The numbers don't lie -- our community is growing and becoming naturalized at higher rates than years past," said Christine Chen, executive director of APIAVote, a non-partisan group championing greater participation by the community in the electoral processes.
"However, unless we mobilize our community to participate in the political process, these numbers will not transfer into political empowerment," she said.
In Connecticut, political novice William Tong wrested a traditionally Republican seat in the state legislature while in Maryland, Pakistani-American Saqib Ali gained his maiden victory to the legislature.
Indian-American Kumar Barve, the majority leader in the Maryland legislature, regained his seat to become the community's longest-serving lawmaker.
Asian-Americans also stamped their mark in Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio and Texas, where lawmakers coasted to re-election.
But in one of the most closely watched congressional races, Tammy Duckworth, a Thai-American US Army helicopter pilot who lost both her legs in Iraq, failed to wrest a traditionally Republican seat in the suburbs of Chicago.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
‘THEY KILLED HOPE’: Four presidential candidates were killed in the 1980s and 1990s, and Miguel Uribe’s mother died during a police raid to free her from Pablo Escobar Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has died two months after being shot at a campaign rally, his family said on Monday, as the attack rekindled fears of a return to the nation’s violent past. The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former Colombian president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on June 7 at a rally in the capital, Bogota, by a suspected 15-year-old hitman. Despite signs of progress in the past few weeks, his doctors on Saturday announced he had a new brain hemorrhage. “To break up a family is the most horrific act of violence that
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS