By Assunta Ng
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Walking into the inaugural WA State Democrats AANHPI celebration recently, you’d see why the Asian community has done well politically in spite of the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.
AANHPIs are now the fastest growing group here in Washington and in the United States. About 10% of Washingtonians are Asian Americans, close to 800,000 in 2023. (AANHPI stands for Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander, an inclusive term designed to embrace the entire Asian community.)
At the Newcastle Golf Club, founded by philanthropist Scott Oki, the best and the brightest were present on Oct. 13. Almost every table out of the 260 guests had one or two former and current elected AANHPI officials seated, including some of the most powerful, nationally-recognized figures. The amount raised surprised the organizers, doubling its goal—from $40,000 to $90,000. These funds will be split between Washington state Democrats and AANHPI Democrats.
“To see pioneers like Congressman Mike Honda (of California), Gov./Ambassador/U.S. Cabinet Secretary Gary Locke, and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell was truly motivating,” said Sung Yang, principal of Pacific Political Affairs.
Bruce Harrell (Photo by Assunta Ng/NWAW)
“Seattle is important as it has elected the first Asian American governor, and he was a legislator before,” said Honda, who drove to attend the event from Oregon, where he has retired and is now residing in.
From left: Mike Honda, Jeff Roh, and Gary Locke (Photo by Assunta Ng/NWAW)
Locke became the first Asian American governor in the U.S. Mainland in 2000 and the first Chinese American governor in the whole country, though the Asian population of our state was barely 4% then. As of today, no other state has elected an Asian governor in the U.S. Mainland. Seattle Mayor Harrell was one of the first three Asian mayors elected in the country in 2021.
The room didn’t just have the star power of the old guards, it was also…
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