US midterms 2022: Why Asian-Americans in Nevada are highly sought-after voters
- Asian-Americans are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the United States and make up more than 10 per cent of the population in five states
- Democrats and Republicans are employing outreach tactics in critical constituencies such as Nevada, which has an Asian-American voting age population of 350,000
Asian-American communities have emerged as a critical constituency for both Republicans and Democrats, particularly in key battlegrounds like Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District – one of the most expensive congressional races in the country.
Asian-Americans are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the United States and make up more than 10 per cent of the population in five states, including Nevada, which has large Filipino and Chinese-American populations.
The state’s Asian-American voting age population is roughly 350,000. President Joe Biden won in 2020 by about 34,000 votes.
Both parties are testing whether their campaign messaging about crime, inflation and abortion resonates in Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, including the region’s largest, neighbourhoods west and southwest of the Las Vegas Strip.
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The Republican’s Congressional Leadership Fund has spent US$10.9 million to campaign in the Las Vegas area district – more than any other in the nation. The Democrats’ House Majority PAC has spent US$3.4 million, according to data aggregated by California Target Book, which tracks federal campaign finance filings.
Democrat Susie Lee of Nevada, spent an afternoon this week visiting Las Vegas’ Chinatown Plaza to talk to business owners about how she and others in her party have worked to ensure they have the resources to withstand skyrocketing costs and the scars the pandemic inflicted on the nation’s economy.
The second-termer said her district’s Asian-American community has always been a focus, but Lee’s eleventh-hour push comes amid unprecedented efforts from Republicans in Nevada, including her opponent, April Becker, to direct the party’s economy-focused message toward Asian-American voters.
“I continue to remind people that, yes, inflation is affecting all of us; it’s causing us to hurt at the gas pump and in the grocery store. But there’s one party that has taken action to take on inflation and there’s one party that wants to use it as a talking point,” Lee said, noting that Asian-American business owners often thank her for supporting economic relief throughout the pandemic.
The Democratic-controlled Legislature prioritised uniting the Asian-American community into the 3rd District when they redrew the state’s political maps last year without Republican support. Asian-Americans now account for 21 per cent of the voting-age population.
On paper, the district now leans bluer than it did previously, but the new boundaries could backfire.
After outperforming their expectations in 2020 with Asian-Americans, Republicans are working to further their inroads in places like southwest Las Vegas, where the Republican National Committee opened an “Asian Pacific American Community Centre” to headquarter their outreach efforts six months ago.
More than ever before, they say, Republicans are publishing campaign materials in Chinese, Hindi, Korean and Vietnamese and advertising in community newspapers like the Philippine Times of South Nevada and the Asian Journal of Las Vegas, where RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel published an op-ed last month titled: “Filipino-Americans Strengthen Our Country. Democrats Don’t”.
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Similar outreach tactics have been employed by Democrats for years to get out the vote in Asian-American communities.
This year in Nevada, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is running abortion and hate crime-focused ads, including in Tagalog, to draw contrast between Lee and Becker.
They’re running ads in the same community newspapers as Republicans as well as in the bimonthly Korea Times Las Vegas and on the Filipino radio station PHLV.
Though Asian-Americans historically have leaned towards voting Democratic, the Republican Party – known in the US as the GOP, or “Grand Old Party” – hopes to narrow the margin.
“It’s not going to be winning the AAPI vote outright, it’s going to be the GOP earning more votes while Democrats keep losing Asian voters. They’re going to be the margin of victory in close races, whether that’s in Nevada, whether that’s Texas, Arizona or Georgia,” said Nainoa Johsens, the RNC’s AAPI outreach director.
“We’ve made inroads in places that people in the past didn’t traditionally think the GOP would,” he added.
Amid a spate of anti-Asian hate crimes, Republicans have said their emphasis this year on public safety will resonate in Asian-American communities.
They also hope turnout will be encouraged by the experience of Asian-American students in college admissions, which is at the centre of a high-profile affirmative action case in front of the US Supreme Court.
Janelle Wong, a University of Maryland professor who co-directs the research group AAPI Data, said both parties have contacted more voters than in past elections.
Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders are a diverse group linguistically, economically and politically, yet survey data show the group – in comparison to other demographics – is relatively united around certain issues, including in support of access to reproductive healthcare.
Though Democrats have made abortion a centrepiece of their midterm campaigns since the overturning of Roe vs Wade, if Republicans are able to motivate voters around issues such as crime or a sluggish economy, their efforts could be decisive in races that come down to a few thousands of voters.
“If their goal is to eat away at the Democratic bloc and if the past is any indication, they could be successful,” Wong said.
