AAAFund congratulates all its endorsees who ran for office in 2018, and notes significant historical wins, including Andy Kim as New Jersey’s first Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Congressman, William Tong as the first AAPI Connecticut Attorney General, endorsee Deb Haaland as one of two Native American women ever to join Congress, and Xavier Becerra as California’s Attorney General. We await the final results of Gina Ortiz Jones’ House race. AAAFund also is pleased that all AAPI Congressional incumbents retained their seats, including the swing districts of Congressmembers Stephanie Murphy (FL) and Ami Bera (CA) – whom AAAFund has supported since their first campaigns. AAAFund is also buoyed by the significant wins of Jacky Rosen and Susie Lee in Nevada, a state in which the 10% AAPI electorate plays a critical role – and now the Nevada Congressional delegation is majority women for the first time in history!

Endorsements Co-Chair Irene Bueno stated, “The Asian American Action Fund board is incredibly proud of Andy Kim and the incoming electeds, and we look forward to them representing our community well on issues including education, health care, the economy, and immigration. Their lived experiences add so much value to crafting policy and decisionmaking. We also appreciate the hard work and sacrifices that our endorsees made in running for public office, and commend their courage.”

Irene Natividad, AAAFund Endorsements Co-chair, said, “For Asian Americans nationwide, this election cycle was historic, both for the record number of AAPI Congressional nominees who won tough primaries and the fact that Asian American Pacific Islander candidates made DCCC Red to Blue for the first time. We anticipate that AAPI voters and candidates will continue to be heavily sought after as 2019 and 2020 roll around.”

Congratulations to endorsed candidates that ran incredible campaigns: Anita Malik (AZ-06), Hiral Tipirneni (AZ-08), TJ Cox (CA-21), Andrew Janz (CA-22), Gil Cisneros (CA-39), Ben Jealous (MD Governor), Cort VanOrstren (MO-02), Aftab Pureval (OH-01), and Sri P. Kulkarni (TX-22).

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The Asian American Action Fund (AAAFund) is an American Democratic political action committee founded in 1999. AAAFund’s goal is to increase the voice of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in every level of local, state and federal government in the United States.

Unless clearly identified as statements of the AAA-Fund, the views, opinions, analyses, and assumptions expressed in each blog or clearinghouse post are those of the author or contributor alone, and not those of the AAA-Fund.