CAPA21 Renews Endorsement of Biden/Harris

Supreme Court Decision Strengthened Case for President Biden in November

Tamlyn Tomita, Chair of the CAPA21 political action committee, announced that the PAC today renewed its endorsement of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for re-election. CAPA21 joins AAA Fund, which also renewed its support for Biden-Harris.

CAPA21 (https://capa21.com) is a political action committee serving the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities with roots in the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans, founded in 1987 as one of the country’s first Asian American PACs. In addition to Tomita, the CAPA21 board includes Dale Minami, Maeley Tom, and Ginger Lew.

President Biden, Vice President Harris, and the Biden-Harris administration have applied the full force of the federal government to ensure the promise of America for all AA and NHPI communities.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden-Harris Administration delivered the most equitable economic recovery on record with nearly 15 million jobs created, including historic AA and NHPI small business growth. The administration is also working to ensure equal access to a high-quality education, expand affordable healthcare for children and families, combat hate, improve disaster recovery, preserve indigenous heritage and lands, and protect civil rights by advancing language access and data equity.

President Biden and Vice President Harris have stood by AANHPI communities. CAPA21 strongly encourages our communities to stand by them.

While the Biden-Harris support for AANHPI communities alone is enough to warrant support for their re-election, the 6-3 decision this week by the Supreme Court on the Trump immunity case made the case for Biden-Harris even more clear.

“[The] decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent. “It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law. … The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”

This is a Trump Supreme Court. The majority in the 6-3 decision included Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh, and Justice Barret – all hand-picked by the right-wing Federalist Society and appointed by Trump to advance an extremist agenda in the high court, including overturning Roe v. Wade.

President Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court and has put forth the most diverse group of judicial appointees of any President – all committed to principles that are at the core of our democracy: independence, freedom, and liberty.

CAPA21 believes the choice is clear and even more stark as of today. President Biden and Vice President Harris are the only true champions for our AANHPI communities and for the democracy that we must keep intact even as it cracks under the influence of Trump and MAGA forces.

Asian Americans for Democracy Launches National Effort to Defeat Trump

Committed to denying Donald Trump another term in the White House, Asian Americans for Democracy (AA4D), a project of the CAPA21 political action committee, announced $500,000 in grants to 10 state-based organizations in seven key states where there are enough Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) voters to swing state electoral college results.

The grants underscore the importance of AANHPI voters who are the fastest-growing group of eligible voters in the U.S., rising by 15 percent or about 2 million eligible voters since 2020. There will be 15 million AANHPIs eligible to vote in 2024.

Funding from AA4D will ensure grantee organizations have the resources they need in key states to mobilize AANHPI voters in record numbers this November. Grantees are located in seven battleground states that could decide the next Presidential election, namely Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Funds will help train volunteers, deploy door-knocking teams and staff up multilingual phone banks.

The $500,000 worth of grants will be distributed as follows:

  • $100,000 to Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance (Pennsylvania)\
  • $75,000 to Freedom Action Now (Wisconsin)
  • $55,000 to PIVOT, The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization (National)
  • $50,000 to APIA Vote – MI Action (Michigan)
  • $50,000 to North Carolina Asian American Together in Action (NCAAT in Action)
  • $50,000 to One APIA Nevada
  • $50,000 to Rising Voices (Michigan)
  • $50,000 to Southeast Asian Action (Wisconsin)
  • $10,000 to AZ AANHPI Advocates (Arizona)
  • $10,000 to Asian American Advocacy Fund (Georgia)

AA4D, a volunteer-run effort initiated by veteran Asian American activists and community leaders, formed in March with the goal of raising $2 million to bolster voter turnout and defeat Trump. Statewide efforts will be supported by a multilingual digital campaign to reach AANHPI voters whose primary language is not English, including reaching voters through tailored social media platforms and ethnic news media.

“There is no greater threat to democracy than Trump,” said Tamlyn Tomita, chair of CAPA21. “We must act now and mobilize Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander voters who can be the margin of victory in the close elections anticipated in the swing states.”
Eddie Wong, an AA4D Organizing Committee member, said early funding will enable grantee organizations to hire and train staff needed well before the fall get out the vote (GOTV) push.
“These groups work year-round and are trusted voices in the community which is why we’re funding local efforts,” Wong added.

Helen Zia, the renowned author and an AA4D Organizing Committee member, praised the early response to AA4D efforts.\

“Raising $500,000 in a few weeks showed us how much Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander voters want to prevent Trump from declaring himself dictator and plunging our country and the world into chaos,” Zia said.

Early donations to AA4D included $100,000 from Tamlyn Tomita and Daniel Blinkoff and $100,000 from Raymond L. Ocampo Jr. and Sandra O. Ocampo.

To learn more about how AANHPI voters can be the deciding factor in the 2024 presidential election, visit http://www.AsianAmericans4Democracy.org and follow @AA4Democracy on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and X.

About AA4D and CAPA21. Asian Americans for Democracy (AA4D) is a project of the CAPA21 Asian American political action committee. AA4D’s organizing committee includes civil rights activists, artists and writers, and community, including Kathy Ko Chin, Dianne Fukami, Carole Hayashino, Dale Minami, Debra Nakatomi, Dan Nguyen-Tan, Vincent Pan, Lia Shigemura, Eddie Wong, Helen Zia and Hoyt Zia. CAPA21 is led by board members Tamlyn Tomita (Chair), Dale Minami, Maeley Tom, and Ginger Lew.

Media Contacts:
For AA4D: NakatomiPR, media@nakatomipr.com, (310) 914-5000
For CAPA21: team@capa21.com