Category Archives: CAPA21

We helped win the battle against a would-be tyrant in 2020 but we haven’t won the war. Yet. I am outraged that a man who actively tried to overthrow our democracy is not in prison! And his collaborators are plotting to steal the 2022 and 2024 elections. The only defense we pro-democracy supporters have is to win more Senate seats by true Democrats and increase the Democratic members in the House.

In 2020, we were not able to capture as many Senate seats as we needed and we lost some House seats. But we can’t give up now as the loss of either house of Congress in 2022 and a complicit Supreme Court dooms us to a resurgent Trumpist hell for many more years. And the loss of our democracy, perhaps permanently.

So, we must fight but with an even more strategic plan. Unlike 2020, rather than spread our donations too broadly, we feel targeting 4-5 Senate races and 5-8 House races would be a smarter use of funds, especially since we probably cannot raise as much as we did in 2020. We will need to invest in more selected races where APA’s can make a difference in toss up races. Contributions would prioritize effective APA ground operations and specific candidates in the targeted states and districts.

Specifically, we’re looking at these Senate races now:

1. Georgia where Rafael Warnock barely won in 2020 and is running again;
2. Arizona to support Mark Kelly;
3. Nevada where Catherine Cortez Masto won by less than 5%;
4. Pennsylvania where incumbent Senator Pat Toomey is retiring so the seat will be open;
5. Possibly Wisconsin, North Carolina, even New Hampshire.

For the House races, we are focusing on California first and if we raise enough money, we can direct more to other states. The House Democratic seats the Republicans are pursuing and that we need to preserve, are:

1. Josh Harder
2. Katie Porter
3. Mike Levin
4. John Garamendi

In addition, we will consider Jay Chen who is challenging Young Kim with an aggressive, smart strategy in Orange County.

Lastly, we will use some funds to support Attorney General Rob Bonta, and several APA state legislative races.

We are initiating a matching donation challenge of $100,000 and have received pledges for that total amount from Raymond L. Ocampo Jr. and Sandy Ocampo, Joan Haratani, Clement Kong, Kei-on Chan and Sonia Ng, Don Tamaki, Minami Tamaki LLP, Dianne Fukami and Ai Mori and me.

Many of you contributed to the existential battle of 2020 and we really don’t enjoy asking for donations again. What you gave in 2020 was so generous and allowed us to channel over $150,000 to Georgia that proved critical to our mission. In 2020, we started with a matching donation challenge of $125,000 and ended up raising $640,000 but, of course, we had Trump as a lightning rod during a presidential election.

So please help once again with whatever you can afford. Your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000 in cumulative new donations.

CAPA21 (capa21.com), an Asian Pacific American political action committee, named Tamlyn Tomita, Maeley Tom, and Ginger Lew as new co-chairs, joining co-founder Dale Minami as leaders of the PAC.

CAPA21 was co-founded by Minami and Glen S. Fukushima in 2013 and has roots in the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans, founded in 1988 as one of country’s first Asian Pacific American PACs. CAPA21 invests in progressive candidates, AAPI field operations, and projects to improve AAPI participation in the political process.

Since 2013, CAPA21 has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to candidates and committees that support Asian Pacific Americans and our priorities.

Maeley Tom holds the unique distinction of breaking the glass ceiling twice in both houses in the California State Legislature and earned the nickname as the “political godmother” of the Asian Pacific Islander community because of her dynamic leadership. Now retired, Maeley recently wrote a book, “I’m Not Who You Think I Am: An Asian American Woman’s Political Journey,” to share the positive sides of her struggles in climbing the political ladder, self-knowledge and sacrifices, as well as share heartfelt advice to the next generation of policymakers.

Ginger Lew is CEO of Three Oaks Investments LLC, served as Senior Counselor to the White House National Economic Council until October 2011. She provided economic policy advice on a broad range of matters, including innovation, commercialisation, small business, capital access and formation of entrepreneurship policies. She also co-chaired the White House Interagency Group on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She was also appointed by Secretary Hillary Clinton to serve on the Board of Governors of the East West Centre.

Tamlyn Tomita is an actor an activist, now as well-known for her advocacy of Asian American issues as she is for starring in “The Karate Kid Part II,” “The Good Doctor,” and “Star Trek: Picard.” In 2020, Tamlyn served as one of California’s 55 representatives to the electoral college who cast votes for Joe Biden for President and Kamala Harris for Vice President. California’s electors gave Biden/Harris the electoral college votes they needed to pass the 270-vote threshold. Congresswoman Judy Chu selected Tamlyn for the honor to represent California’s 27th Congressional District on recommendations by Maeley Tom and Dale Minami.