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.
These contributions were made possible through a large and dedicated group of generous donors led by Raymond L. Ocampo Jr. and Sandra O. Ocampo and Tamlyn Tomita (CAPA21 Co-Chair) and Daniel Blinkoff. See the complete list of our 2021-2022 donors at https://capa21.com/donors.
We donated $5,000 to the Hmong Community Organizing initiative run by the Wisconsin Democrats. The funding is for an internship tasked with engaging Hmong Americans in the state party’s massive program to help Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes defeat Ron Johnson to retain our Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate and elect Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.
We contributed $30,000 to Asian American Advocacy Fund (Independent Committee) and Georgia Advancing Progress PAC to activate AAPI voters in the crucial swing state of Georgia. Atlanta’s NBC affiliate just this week profiled the Asian American Advocacy Fund’s work (https://bit.ly/3DIjXpf) “hyper-focused on engaging voters across Georgia.” At stake is Senator Raphael Warnock’s re-election and control of the Senate.
We gave $15,000 to Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance and API PA Votes PAC in Pennsylvania to help ensure that AAPI voters impact races in another swing state. API PA is running an ambitious operation including phonebanks, textbanks, canvassing, and digital organizing against disinformation and misinformation. This is another state critical to Democratic control of the Senate and we need Lt. Gov. John Fetterman to defeat Mehmet Oz.
CAPA21 donated $20,000 to 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. NBC News profiled AAPN (https://bit.ly/3gS7ypR) last month highlighting the group’s $10 million effort to turn out Asian American voters in seven key battleground states.
We gave $10,000 to Asian Americans in Action based in Orange County, Calif., a region featuring Jay Chen’s challenge to Republican Rep. Michelle Steel, who was recently denounced for red-bating and racist ads (https://bit.ly/3gUB0eL) against Chen. The national Committee of 100 and members of the local Vietnamese American community were among those challenging Steel on the ads.
We also contributed $5,000 to North Carolina Asian Americans Together, $5,000 to Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Advocates, $5,000 to One APIA Nevada, and $5,000 to AAA Fund.
CAPA21 also donated $5,000 to Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire. That donation was not included in our previous announcement (https://bit.ly/3Cs01X6) .
A big thank you to all who donated to help us fight this fight!!!
~ Dale, Maeley, Ginger, Tamlyn
CAPA21 