CAPA21 PAC

Democrats Took Back the House and You Helped Asian Americans Make a Difference in the Midterms

“I think CAPA21’s fundraising for the midterms has been groundbreaking. I can’t think of another progressive Asian American PAC that has raised $100,000 in an election cycle. More efforts like this are needed to help Asian Americans engage in political empowerment.” ~ Donald K. Tamaki

It was a huge blue wave and Democrats picked up the most House seats in a generation. And “California hasn’t been this blue since the Civil War.”

When CAPA21 launched our Asian Americans #TakeItBack campaign through CAPA21, our goal was to raise enough donations to help Asian Americans play a strong role in wresting the House away from the Trump-enabling Republicans.

You helped us accomplish that. Because of the support of our donors (see list below), CAPA21 reached our $100,000 campaign goal for candidates and field activities.

A few races are still undecided, but we provide below a status of the races we invested in. We also provide links to more information about the field activities we supported.

On behalf of CAPA21 PAC Chair Glen S. Fukushima and campaign partner Hoyt Zia, thank you for your incredible support.

Dale Minami
President, CAPA21 PAC

RESULTS

Note that the races we list as wins are not officially decided until the relevant authorities certify the election results. With your generous support, we made three rounds of donations to candidates in California swing districts and to key Asian American candidates (amounts reflect totals to date).

(WIN) Andy Kim for Congress – New Jersey – $5,000: This race was just called today in favor of Kim, winning 49.9% to 48.8% over incumbent Rep. Tom MacArthur.

(WIN) Mike Levin For Congress – California 49th District – $5,000: Levin won this seat left open by Rep. Darrell Issa’s retirement over Diane Harkey, 55% to 45%.

(WIN) Josh Harder for Congress – California 10th District – $5,000: Harder ousted incumbent Rep. Jeff Denham 51.3% to 48.7%.

(WIN) Katie Hill for Congress – California 25th District – $5,000: Hill kicked out incumbent Rep. Steve Knight 52.6% to 47.4%.

(WIN) Harley Rouda for Congress – California 48th District – $5,000: Rouda beat incumbent Rep. Dana Rohrabacher 52.2% to 47.8%.

(WIN) Jacky Rosen for U.S. Senate (Nevada) – $5,000: Rosen denied incumbent Sen. Dean Heller a second term, winning 50.4% to 45.4%.

(UNDECIDED) Gina Ortiz Jones for Congress – Texas – $5,000: Ortiz Jones is trying to close a 1,150-vote gap with incumbent Rep. Will Hurd. As of this email, media outlets report a recount is possible.

(UNDECIDED) Gil Cisneros for Congress – California 39th District – $1,500: Republican Young Kim’s lead over Cisneros has shrunk to only 122 votes with ballots still being counted. This seat opened up from Rep. Ed Royce’s retirement.

CAPA21 endorsed and donated to the following candidates who executed strong campaigns, but lost:
Andrew Janz for Congress – California 22nd District – $5,000
TJ Cox for Congress – California 21st District – $5,000
Hiral Tipirneni – Arizona 8th District – $2.000
Beto O’Rourke for U.S. Senate (Texas) – $5,000
Heidi Heitkamp for U.S. Senate (North Dakota) – $2,000

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to expend the entire amount of donations raised due to contributions received close to Election Day, but we will use the remaining funds for future efforts including the 2020 races for Congress and for President.

DONATIONS TO FIELD ACTIVITIES AND COORDINATED CAMPAIGNS
Asian Americans Against Trumpism – $7,500
APIAVote – $5,000
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance – $5,000
Blue Momentum PAC (Rep. Ted Lieu’s leadership PAC) – $2,500

Click here to learn how these groups impacted the midterms!

THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS!

The CAPA21 PAC recognizes and thanks those on the front lines – the early donors – who have made generous contributions to this effort:

Hoyt Zia and Leigh-Ann Miyasato
Glen S. Fukushima
Minami Tamaki LLP
Clement Kong
Don Tamaki
Johnnie Giles
Dale Minami and Ai Mori
Mona Lisa Yuchengco
Dr. Craig Yamada and Dr. Monice Kwok
Kei-On Chan
Renie Yoshida Grohl
Bryan Springmeyer
Chris Noma and Steve Fong
Colbert Matsumoto
Dianne Fukami
Henry Der
Joan Haratani
John Yang
Michael G. Lee
Minette Kwok and Gerald Okimoto
Paul Osaki
Richard Sakai and Connie Young
Sydney Kohara
Edwin Oshika
Gayle Chan
Audrey Yamamoto
David Louie
Diane Lee
Emerald Yeh
Jane Chin
Jon Osaki
Roy and Georgette Imura
Tasha Yorozu
Angela Oh
Audee Kochiyama Holman
Hiroshi Shimizu
Maeley Tom
Emi Gusukuma
Jeff Woo and Shirley Tan
Katherine Lee
Louise Ing
Mas and Marcia Hashimoto
Sean Tamura-Sato
Stan Yogi
Vincent Pan
Carol Izumi
Doris Gee
Eddie and Pam Kochiyama
Jeff and Sandy Mori
Laurie Shigekuni
Philip Kan Gotanda and Diane Takei
Sam Mihara
Teresa Tan
Tina Lee and Steve Ngo
Todd Fujinaga
William G. Wong
Shirley Nakao
Ben and Dianne Fong-Torres
Billy Chan
Cal Abe
Celia Lee and Clarke Holland
Dr. Roland Minami
Eddie Wong
Gary Lee and Lisa Oyama
Glenn Magpantay
Kathryn Fong
Martha Nakagawa
Nancy Yamaguchi
Patricia Shiu
Paul Igasaki
Richard Komatsu
Satsuki Ina
Vicky Chin
Wilfred Lim
Yu-Yee Wu
Karen Kai and Bob Rusky
Shin Inouye
Donna Fujii
Darren Teshima
Susan Almazol
Emiko Omori
Mary Ridley

If you donated and don’t see your name here, please let us know so we can recognize you!

APALA Activates AAPI Voters in the 2018 Midterms

APALA’s civic engagement program in the 2018 midterm election cycle focused specifically on door knocking, phone banking, registering voters, and protecting voters at the polls in California, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.

The CAPA21 PAC contributed to APALA in support of this effort.

In California, big dialysis and landlord associations pushed voters to say no on caps for dialysis fees (Proposition 8) and no to ending rent control limits (Proposition 10) but elected pro-worker candidate Gavin Newsom and other pro-worker candidates into city councils. In Washington, voters said yes to police training and criminal liability in cases of deadly force (Initiative Measure No 940), but no to levying a carbon fee (Initiative Measure No. 1631).

In Nevada, our communities successfully lowered barriers to voting by saying yes to automatic voter registration at the DMV (Question 5) and elected Democrat Jacky Rosen to the the U.S. Senate.

In Virginia, voters replaced Republican Representative Comstock with Democratic candidate Jennifer Wexton as a clear push back on the Trump agenda.

Across the board, early vote and election day turnout was high.

In addition to chapters in targeted areas, APALA chapters and members across the country educated, mobilized, and turned out the vote in Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. With 71% of Asian Americans having never been contacted about elections, our program made major strides in voter contact for our community.

APALA chapters alongside their unions, worker centers, and community partners conducted culturally competent voter education at community town halls in Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean.

In districts across the nation, APALA was proud to be among the few organizations to reach out to the AAPI community and bridge the wide voter contact gap we’ve typically seen. As union members and workers, our chapter members connected voters to how elections impact our families’ economic well-being and how we can continue fighting for our communities post-election.

“Corporate interests continue to spend an unprecedented amount of money to defeat ballot measures that would have benefited our communities and candidates who would have fought for workers,” said Alvina Yeh, APALA National Executive Director. “This election shows how important our work continues to be, as we engage with our communities to fight for under-resourced programs and to resist undue corporate influence in our society.”

By organizing our communities, expanding the electorate with first time voters, and getting them to the polls in record numbers, Democrats regained the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives with the addition of 26 seats, including historic wins for progressive women of color candidates in several districts across the country.

“We celebrate our work this election cycle to keep families together, ensure working people earn living wages, guarantee access to health and nutritious foods, create safe environments for LGBTQ folks, provide educational opportunities for our youth, and so much more,” said Yeh. “We will use this momentum to bring more people along, to grow our movement, and to continue to build people power.”

Taking Back Congress

Because of your support, CAPA21 reached our $100,000 campaign goal for candidates and field activities through our Asian Americans #TakeItBack campaign!

Together we helped Asian Americans play a strong role in trying to stop the most corrupt, racist and ignorant president we have known. We must take back our Congress to reverse this current developing culture of violence against the marginalized, anti-immigration laws, hate crimes, wrongful incarceration, wealth inequality, discrimination, and environmental degradation.

This post includes a listing of our donations to candidates and information about the field activities we supported. We also include a list of contributors who made our Asian Americans #TakeItBack campaign a success. We donated as much of the funds we received as possible in the short time frame before November 6, but will use any remaining funds to continue to restore a Congress willing to resist the destruction of our Democracy.

On behalf of CAPA21 PAC Chair Glen S. Fukushima and campaign partner Hoyt Zia, thank you for your incredible support.

Dale Minami
President, CAPA21 PAC

PS – Make a donation today to provide future support for CAPA21 in the next election cycle so that we can continue our efforts to ensure that Asian Americans have a powerful presence and role in all branches and levels of government and politics, achieved through voters who are engaged, informed, and empowered.

DONATIONS TO CANDIDATES

Because of your generous support, we made three rounds of donations to candidates in California swing districts and to key Asian American candidates (amounts reflect totals to date):

Mike Levin For Congress – California 49th District – $5,000
Andy Kim for Congress – New Jersey – $5,000
Josh Harder for Congress – California 10th District – $5,000
Katie Hill for Congress – California 25th District – $5,000
Harley Rouda for Congress – California 48th District – $5,000
Andrew Janz for Congress – California 22nd District – $5,000
Gina Ortiz Jones for Congress – Texas – $5,000
TJ Cox for Congress – California 21st District – $5,000
Hiral Tipirneni – Arizona 8th District – $2.000
Gil Cisneros – California 39th District – $1,500
Beto O’Rourke for U.S. Senate (Texas) – $5,000
Jacky Rosen for U.S. Senate (Nevada) – $5,000
Heidi Heitkamp for U.S. Senate (North Dakota) – $2,000

Learn how many of endorsed candidates utilized our contributions.

Click here to learn how these groups impacted the midterms!

THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS!

The CAPA21 PAC recognizes and thanks those on the front lines – the early donors – who have made generous contributions to this effort: