capa21

The President’s “go back to your own country” tweets bring back bad memories of the racist schoolyard taunts that we grew up with. That these remarks are coming not from a schoolyard bully, but from the Office of the President, marks an enormously distressing shift in the culture intended to redefine what it is to be an “American.”

That directive is an insult meant to demean and delegitimize our presence in this country and perpetuates the “perpetual foreigner” stereotype about our race. It arises from a white supremacist sense of privilege and ownership. And it is deeply hurtful.

We belong here. We helped build this country and, despite the century of discrimination and racism we have encountered, we are not going away.

Let it be remembered that when 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, were incarcerated in internment camps by their own country, the United States of America, it was done by labeling them as “enemy aliens.” Let’s also remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “… In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Let’s not be silent.

~ Glen S. Fukushima (Chair), Dale Minami (President), Donald K. Tamaki

“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%.

(WIN) Gil Cisneros for Congress – California 39th District – $1,500: Republican Young Kim’s lead over Cisneros evaporated and the AP called this race for Cisneros on Nov 17. GOP Rep. Ed Royce’s retirement opened this seat.

(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.

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!