With voting up among Asian Americans in Georgia and across the nation, the community is gaining increased attention from both parties.
The GOP says its staffed volunteers to phone bank, door knock, and work with Asian Pacific American media throughout the state in multiple languages to get out the vote for Senators Loeffler and Perdue.”
While the Asian American community at large votes largely Democratic, Republicans remain confident they can pick off enough votes to make the difference in the Georgia Senate runoff on January 5.
Michael Ahrens, the Republican National Committee’s Communications Director, echoed those hopes.
In two races that are expected to be tight between Democrat Jon Ossoff and GOP U.S. Senator David Perdue and Rev Raphael Warnock and Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler, every vote counts and Asian Americans are largely seen as crucial to both parties.
The South China Morning Post reported the Asian American population in Georgia has increased 138% since 2000. There are currently 150,000 Indian Americans living in Georgia, 75,500 Chinese, 65,900 Koreans, 64,500 Vietnamese and 47,400 Filipinos.
As AsAmNews previously reported, early voting among Asian Americans in Georgia in the November election shot up 59% from 2016.
“Even though the Asian American population is not as large in Georgia as it is in states like California and New Jersey, it was still significant enough, given the margin, that they can be seen as part of Biden’s victory,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan of AAPI Data to the Morning Post.
According to CNBC, Ossoff’s campaign since the general election has hired a director for AAPI outreach. The Warnock campaign has had someone in a similar position since the summer. The Perdue and Loeffler campaign did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
“We have really built up our communities in a way that hadn’t really existed there in the past, so when we talk about why Georgia turned blue this year, it is in large part because of the organizing that happened in communities of color over the last few years,” said Aisha Yaqoob Mahmood, director of Asian American Advocacy Fund to CNBC. “Over the last few years it’s been very clear that in order to move Georgia forward, it would require an investment in communities of color.”
This year, Georgia voters elected six Asian Americans to the state legislature. Five of those are Democrats.
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