Asian-American community’s support could help Harris win swing state Pennsylvania
Ms Tilly Chang (second from left), Ms Andrea Wong (second from right), and Mr Alex Sun (right) travelled to Philadelphia from their home states to canvas for Ms Kamala Harris. ST PHOTO: NICOLE CHEAH
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania – At a park in the heart of Philadelphia’s Cambodia Town, over 50 Asian Americans gathered on the morning of Nov 2 to rally for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
The crowd’s excited chatter was as linguistically diverse as their blue placards, which included messages in Vietnamese and Khmer that read: “When we vote, we win.”
Asian-American members in the administration of US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris took to the stage in their personal capacities to voice support for Ms Harris. Many in the cheering audience had journeyed to Mifflin Square Park from outside the state.
The rally was one of several events held on Nov 2 to mobilise the area’s large South-east Asian American community as the election approached.
No official census exists for the South-east Asian population, but there are nearly 334,000 eligible Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters in the state of Pennsylvania, data shows.
That is more than enough voters than the ticket of Ms Harris and her vice-presidential pick Tim Walz needs to exceed the margin of victory in the nation’s biggest swing state. And most of those AAPIs – over 121,000 of them – live in Philadelphia.
Mr Biden won the Keystone State in 2020 by an average of just 12 votes per precinct, receiving 50.01 per cent of the vote.
The day’s programme saw dozens of pairs of volunteers knocking on doors in the neighbourhood, and a community forum held at a nearby Buddhist temple.
The events were organised by the local Cambodian-American business community in coordination with Ms Bel Leong-Hong, chairwoman of the AAPI Caucus of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
US Acting Secretary of Labour Julie Su was among those who spoke at the rally in their personal capacities.
“The South-east Asian community, even within the Asian-American community, can feel forgotten. Showing up where people live, work and play, and saying, ‘You matter to me, you’re going to matter to a Harris administration’, was really important,” she told The Straits Times.
In an election as tight as this one, getting more Asian Americans to vote could very well decide the winner, said Ms Su, the daughter of Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants.
Ms Leong-Hong, a first-generation Chinese American, echoed the same sentiment.
“If you think about the population here, we’re talking about a lot of people,” said the 78-year-old.
“And if we can get them all to vote for us, we become the margin of victory. We win Pennsylvania. Because 300,000 votes is an absolutely decisive margin.”
Over the course of the day, it became clear that many backed Ms Harris for similar reasons, one of the most pertinent being her proposed tax reductions of up to US$50,000 (S$65,800) for small businesses.
Many of Philadelphia’s South-east Asians operate such businesses.
The city’s popular South-east Asian Market features some 75 food vendors, many of them refugees and immigrants.
Another popular policy plank was Ms Harris’ proposed expansion of Medicare to cover in-home healthcare, seen as beneficial to multi-generational households.
Mr Alex Sun, an attorney, drove from Washington, DC to knock on doors for Ms Harris.
“A lot of elderly Asian Americans need adequate health insurance. The Democrats have already put in a plan to strengthen it and bring down healthcare costs,” said the 55-year-old Chinese American.
Many voiced unease over former president Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chinese American Tilly Chang, who flew in from San Francisco, said: “There’s a lot of violence against Asian Americans, and we’re concerned about the rhetoric. She (Ms Harris) has got the vision and knowledge to look out for everyone and make sure everybody is safe.”
Trump has also talked about stripping some of them of their US citizenship.
In contrast, Ms Harris is seen as the candidate who empathises with the concerns of the nation’s immigrant communities.
Ms Nani Coloretti, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, was in the neighbourhood in a personal capacity to canvass for Ms Harris.
The 55-year-old is the highest-ranking Filipino American in the Biden administration, and also served under president Barack Obama.
“I’ve worked with three different presidents, and it makes a difference when there’s someone in the White House who cares about what the community has to say,” she told ST.
“This is a choice between people who are fighting for us, and people who are fighting for themselves. Vice-President Harris is going to listen to the people who are impacted by decisions she will make.”
Mr Dilawar Syed, a tech entrepreneur and long-time public servant, also spoke at the rally.
He immigrated to the US 33 years ago from Pakistan for studies.
“We are proud to be a nation of immigrants. Will Asian Americans feel comfortable in a presidency where there is talk of mass deportations, where there’s talk of potential people being denaturalised? These are very discouraging things,” he told ST.
“Folks need a president who actually respects the community and is one of them. She (Ms Harris) values our contributions and wants to make sure that this community is part of the America that she helps move forward.”
But Trump has his share of supporters among the community as well.
Ms Leong-Hong noted how, just days earlier, several Chinese-American Trump supporters were seen attempting to intimidate voters at the polls.
“There are groups that lean more conservative because of misinformation from the other side. In various races in California, they’ve tried to tie our candidates to communism – never mind that it may not be true,” she said.
