This is a summary of how CAPA21-endorsed candidates fared in Tuesday’s general election and a preview of what’s next. As always, no election result is final until certified and we may still see surprises in some races.

UPDATE (11/10/22): In our Nov. 9 update, we incorrectly wrote that Jay Chen lost to Rep. Michelle Steel. With only 55% of the votes counted, the race for California’s 45th Congressional District is too early to call. Election results take time. It means our democracy is working. We must ensure we are counting every vote.

The ‘Red Wave’ didn’t reach the shore. Many observers expected a blowout by the GOP across and up and down the field. The Democrats are still expected the lose the House, but by a much smaller margin. Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada will determine control of the Senate. “How Democrats Avoided a Red Wave” in The Atlantic has one analysis.

CAPA21 will donate again to Senator Warnock in a run-off. It appears that Sen. Warnock will not reach the 50 percent vote threshold and there will be a run-off election on December 6. This a considered a new election with the same contribution limits as general and primary elections. CAPA21 prepared for this possibility and will donate $5,000 to support Sen. Warnock. We will also confer with the groups on the ground we supported to assess additional support.

We are disappointed in Stacy Abrams’s loss in the governor’s race. We will explore postmortems illuminating what happened in Georgia, but are heartened that the Asian American Advocacy Fund and the other grassroots organizations we supported helped turn out 54% support by Asian Americans for Abrams and an amazing 59% support for Warnock, the highest support level among ethnic groups after the African American vote.

Amazing Pennsylvania comeback by Fetterman. CAPA21-endorsed Senate candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (and Josh Shapiro’s win in the governor’s race) shocked the country and created a critical buffer for Senate control since this race is a flip. We supported Fetterman with the maximum donation and also gave the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance in Pennsylvania $20,000 as we knew this would be a critical race. APIPA reports that they ran the largest Asian American direct voter contact program in U.S. history, knocking on more than 130,000 doors and making more than two million phone calls.

We’re proud to see our endorsed candidates Senator Tammy Duckworth (IL), Senator Maggie Hassan (NH), and Senator Alex Padilla (CA) win their respective races and especially congratulate Senator Padilla on being the first Latino elected to the U.S. Senate from California! We’re disappointed that Mandela Barnes (WI), Cheri Beasley (NC), and Tim Ryan (OH) lost their races, but each of them ran strong and admirable campaigns.

On the House side, CAPA21-endorsed Rep. Andy Kim survived a brutal challenge from the GOP establishment and former state Sen. Jill Tokuda will be the newest Member of Congress from Hawai‘i. Rep. Mary Peltola (AK) is at 47% with 75% of votes counted and is expected to win. Rep. Mark Takano, Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Grace Meng, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal won re-election as expected. The other California Congressional candidates we supported are still in races too early to call.

While CAPA21 is focused primarily on federal races, we invested in a few key state races other than the Stacy Abrams contest in Georgia. CAPA21 supported Stephanie Nguyen’s candidacy for California Assembly and it appears she’s headed to a win, filling the absence of any Democratic AAPI women in the California state Legislature. We also contributed to the Michigan State Senate races with Stephanie Chang and Sam Singh victories, helping Democrats take control of the state Senate for the first time in 38 years.

What’s Next. Ron DeSantis’s overwhelming win in Florida and Trump’s negative impact on the midterms sets the stage on the GOP side for 2024. If Democrats hold the Senate and lose the House, we will see MAGA Republicans in the House tie up the government for the next two years. We also need to start evaluating President Biden’s next two years.

We will continue to monitor the undecided contests and provide another update when we know more.

~ Dale, Maeley, Ginger, Tamlyn

Since 1988, the leaders and donors powering CAPA21 have worked to register more AAPI voters and build the capacity and infrastructure of local AAPI organizations to support our AAPI community. However, the last six years have been the most difficult and this election may set the stage for the future of our democracy.

During the last two years, we targeted close races where AAPIs can make a difference through donations to candidates, and also to AAPI voter organizations that can influence those races.

We donated $168,600 to candidates in the 2021-2022 cycle and share below some highlights of our contributions to ground operations.

CAPA21 Donated $100,000 to AAPI Voter Engagement

Fueled by contributions from our fantastic donors (https://capa21.com/donors) , CAPA21 was able to invest $100,000 in efforts at the national, state, and local levels designed to engage and turn out Asian American and Pacific Islander voters.

More

CAPA21 congratulates our Co-Chair Ginger Lew on her appointment to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council (ABAC).

Ms. Lew and her ABAC counterparts from the other APEC economies will advise APEC Leaders on issues affecting the continued growth of the region’s economy. In this role, Ms. Lew will provide recommendations reflecting the perspective of U.S. stakeholders.

ABAC, created in 1995, consists of up to three business representatives from each APEC economy and is a key component of APEC’s multi-stakeholder approach to trade and economic policies. ABAC meets throughout the year to discuss policy recommendations, undertakes activities to promote trade and investment, as well as sustainable and inclusive growth, and reports annually to APEC Leaders.

Ms. Lew is a senior policy advisor to I Squared Capital, a $34 billion global infrastructure fund based in Miami, Florida. Ms. Lew is also an entrepreneur and was one of the co-founders and Managing Director of Cube Hydro Partners, a U.S. clean energy company based in Bethesda, Maryland. She guided the company through an expansive acquisition period and led critical regulatory and financial negotiations throughout the life cycle of the company. In October 2019, Cube Hydro was sold to Eagle Creek Renewable Energy.  She is currently CEO of Three Oaks Investments, which provides consulting services to U.S. and international companies.

Previously, Ms. Lew held a number of roles in the United States government, including most recently as the White House National Economic Council Senior Counselor, where she led work on small business, financial and procurement reform policies, innovation, and commercialization policies.

Ms. Lew has also served as Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer at the U.S. Small Business Administration, General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

She has also served on numerous corporate and not-for-profit boards including the Meyer Foundation, the Smithsonian Institute, Asian Americans for Advancing Justice, and the East West Center. Ms. Lew served on the NASDAQ Listing and Hearing Review Council for ten years as a member and Co-Chair. She is the Co-Founder of the Association of Asian American Investment Managers, a trade organization that promotes diversity and inclusion in the investment industry.

For more than 30 years, APEC has served as the premier economic platform for the United States to engage our regional partners on structural issues to advance an economic and trade architecture that opens markets, promotes high standards, and promotes sustainable and inclusive growth.

For further information, please contact the U.S. APEC Team at DOSAPEC@state.gov.

The electoral landscape seems to be changing almost daily.  Polls (which cannot be totally trusted) now suggest a very small shift in favor of Democrats so now the Senate is again a tossup and the predicted Republican landslide has been narrowed to a few seats. BUT, almost all of the races are very close.

Instead of governing, Republicans plan to investigate the FBI over its lawful activities related to retrieving top secret documents from Trump’s residence, investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci for helping guide the country during the COVID-19 pandemic, and even the Chamber of Commerce for advancing environmental, social, and governance criteria!

We haven’t specifically asked for donations, but the new developments are presenting new opportunities as we can’t allow Republicans to take control of the House or Senate.  Again, the stakes are simply too high.   Fortunately, together with you, we can do something about this. Every single donor is important to us and we’re especially thrilled when we receive a donation from legends like George Takei! CAPA21 recently received a $5,000 donation from George and Brad. Thank you both and our thanks again to all our donors!

We must help House Democrats hold on to the majority. We previously donated the maximum amounts in the primary season to Rep. Mark Takano, Rep. Andy Kim, Rep. Katie Porter, Rep. Josh Harder, and to candidates Jay Chen and Jill Tokuda. We also donated to Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Grace Meng, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and Rep. Ted Lieu to support their continued leadership of our AAPI delegation and among progressives in the House.

Because of your generous support, CAPA21 is making new contributions to our newest Democratic member of Congress from Alaska and three House challengers:
$5,000 to Rep. Mary Peltola vs. Sarah Palin and others
$5,000 to Christy Smith vs. Rep. Mike Garcia
$5,000 to Rudy Salas vs. Rep. David Valadao
$5,000 to Adam Gray vs John Duarte

CAPA21 is helping local organizations reach and turn out Asian American and Pacific Islander voters to affect the House and Senate races.  We’re donating $5,000 to North Carolina Asian Americans Together and $5,000 to Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Advocates (AZ AANHPI Advocates) 501(c)(4). We also have donations earmarked for advocacy efforts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio.

This is in addition to our earlier donations to Georgia Advancing Progress PAC in Georgia, One APIA Nevada, APA Political Alliance in Pennsylvania, and Asian Americans in Action in Orange County. We also donated to Asian American Action Fund – Georgia and the Asian American Advocacy Fund in Georgia. We made a large investment in the new national Asian American Power Network, an alliance of 12 organizations in 11 states focused on AAPI political empowerment, with the funds earmarked for efforts in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina. Our total investment in voter engagement efforts is expected to be $100,000.

We’re so grateful to each of our donors and to you for your support. Together we are working towards a country where AAPIs have a powerful presence and role in all branches and levels of government and politics, achieved through AAPI voters who are engaged, informed, and empowered. 

~ Dale, Maeley, Ginger, Tamlyn