Of the 7,383 state legislators across the country, only 47 are Asian American and Pacific Islander women — 0.6%. Of the 535 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, there are only 10.
As Chair of the California Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, I’ve been dedicated to electing more AAPI women to office, and to building a stronger pipeline so that AAPI women can serve our communities for generations to come.
Simply put, we need more AAPI women elected to all levels of government — because representation matters for so many reasons. I hope you’ll read this new piece from Ms., which highlights the roots and the impacts of such profoundly inadequate representAsian.
The good news: you can take action right now. There are 10 amazing AAPI women appearing on ballots across California this year. I wanted to make sure they have your support — with your votes and, if you’re able, with your dollar — in the final days of this election.
- Jenny Lam, running for re-election to the San Francisco Unified School District Board, where she is the only AAPI woman currently serving.
- Marjan Philhour, running for San Francisco District 1 Supervisor. She would be the first Filipino American on the Board — and if she’s not elected, we may have no AAPI women on the Board of Supervisors, for the first time in many years.
- Diedre Thu-Ha Nguyen, running for the State Assembly in Orange County. If elected, she would be the first AAPI Democratic woman to serve in the Assembly in six years.
- Suely Saro, running for Long Beach City Council. She would be the first Cambodian American on the City Council.
- Amourence Lee, running for re-election to the San Mateo City Council, where she is the first AAPI woman to ever serve.
- Mai Vang for Sacramento City Council, where as the daughter of Hmong refugees, she would be the first AAPI woman to ever serve.
- Malia Valle, running for re-election to the Alameda City Council, where she is the first Filipina American to serve.
- Jamie Salcido for BART Board District 1, where she would be the first AAPI woman to represent that seat.
- Tammy Kim, running for Irvine City Council, where she would be the first East Asian woman elected — and the first Korean American woman to be elected to a city council of any major city in California.
And last, but certainly not least…my friend Senator Kamala Harris, the first major Vice Presidential candidate of AAPI descent, who needs our support to become the first woman Vice President of the United States.
You can contribute to the Biden/Harris campaign here.
These women are change-makers who fight tirelessly for their communities. I hope you’ll stand with me in supporting them — as well as future generations of AAPI women leaders.
In solidarity,
David