AAPIs are Ready to Elect the Next President of the United States

AAPIs are Ready to Elect the Next President of the United StatesAAPI Victory Fund Endorses Joe Biden For PresidentThis morning, you may have woken up to the news of our endorsement of Joe Biden for President in the Wall Street Journal. As a strong supporter of the AAPI Victory Fund, we wanted to provide you with our thoughts on this important decision.AAPIs are the fastest growing demographic and the fastest growing political force. The 2018 election cycle featured more AAPIs running for Congress than ever before. Our voting power turned the tide in many red-to-blue districts, including in Orange County where we were able to flip the previously “unwinnable” county.In 2015, we were founded as the first ever AAPI focused Super PAC. We invested in identifying and mobilizing AAPI voters in red-to-blue states and districts with high AAPI populations. We've actively worked in Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. And then, in a national gathering of AAPI leaders on President’s Day 2019, we asked the question: In an election that will be the most important of our lifetimes, is our community ready to engage with the Presidential candidates and help elect the one we support?Thus, we have engaged:

• Polled AAPI voters in battleground states on their priorities and which candidate they supported;
• Created a briefing book on AAPI priorities with our sister organization, AAPI Progressive Action, to make available to all candidates;
• Organized the first-ever AAPI Democratic Presidential Forum in September 2019 in Orange County, CA with all-AAPI moderators. This event was viewed by thousands;
• Fought for and delivered representation on the campaigns, which generated more AAPI outreach and AAPI senior-level staff;
• Joined the fight to have an AAPI moderator at the DNC debates and succeeded on December 19th;
• Held the AAPI Presidential Roundtable in November in Washington, DC with AAPI congressional leaders Judy Chu and Grace Meng; and
• Continued get-out-the-vote efforts with the AAPI community. As an example in 2019, Democrats in Virginia will be in control of the state government for the first time since 1994. This victory with AAPI votes in record numbers was so historic that comedian Hasan Minhaj mentioned it in his Netflix show Patriot Act.

We've delivered on engagement. Now is for the next stage: endorsing the candidate for the Democratic nomination that best represents our community's needs and priorities.We believe that Joe Biden is the best candidate to defeat Trump and lead our country. Out of all the presidential candidates, he has the most experience and cares deeply about AAPI issues. In our view, Joe can lead us to a safer, more stable world, with less inequality and more justice. We make this endorsement with enormous respect for the three AAPIs who entered into the Presidential race -- Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris and Andrew Yang. The AAPI candidates broke new ground and excited many elements of our community but, in particular, what Andrew Yang has done is remarkable and deserves special recognition!We are excited to now be part of the national conversation. There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done in the next ten months, but AAPIs are more engaged than ever. We are committed to continuing our work for 2020 victories and delivering 1 million new voters for Joe Biden to win the Presidency and for Democrats to increase their House majority and to take back the Senate.Please help us by publicizing this, supporting our work and standing up in your community for justice, equality and a safer world.