Several Asian Americans are in extremely tight races going into tomorrow’s midterm elections.
A total of 22 Asian Americans are running for Congress. That’s up from 13 just six years ago.
159 are running for state offices including six for governor. By the end of the night, there could be four Asian American governors in the country.
Here are several races to watch.
In Rhode Island, Republican Allan Fung (pictured) is facing state Treasurer Gina Raimondo. According to the NY Times, a Brown University poll has 38 percent of the likely voters supporting Raimondo with 37 percent saying they’ll vote for Fung. WPRI spoke to The Cook Political Report which recently upgraded Fung’s chances of winning.
In Hawaii, three Asian American candidates are vying to replace Neil Abercrombie as governor. Abercrobie was upset by David Ige in the primary. Ige faces republican Duke Aiono and independent Mufi Hannemann.
In South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley (R) is favored to defeat Democrat Vincent Sheheen.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is in his last year as governor and will be termed out after 2015.
In California, two Asian American incumbents are in close races.
Rep Ami Bera (D-CA District 7) is facing a tough challenge from Republican Doug Ose. Bera won his first term in 2012 by just 2 percent. Ose served three terms before deciding not to run for re-election in 2004. More than $10 million has been spent by outside groups in this race. Ose has loaned his own campaign $1.5 million, according to the Fresno Bee.
Seven-time incumbent Mike Honda is facing off against Ro Khanna in Santa Clara County’s District 17. Khanna has made up 20 points in the primaries with a series of relentless attacks on Honda and the support of Silicon Valley’s high tech community. Honda has strong support from the unions and the Democratic establishment. California’s District 17 is the only Asian American majority district in the continental United States.
California’s State Senator Ted Lieu (D) is favored to defeat Republican Elan Carr for the House seat vacated by long time incumbent Henry Waxman (D) who is retiring in California’s 33rd District.
In New Jersey, Roy Cho is given an outside chance of defeating Rep. Scott Garrett. However, Cho has been slipping in the polls in recent weeks, according to NJ.com.
