Daniel Dae Kim appeared Friday in Queens to register voters and drum up support for Andrew Yang’s campaign for mayor.
The actor who just snagged his first lead role in the upcoming mini-series, The Hot Zone, told a gathering of a few dozen people that Yang “deserves to be the next mayor of New York City.”
“New York is facing a pretty large fiscal crisis and its going to take someone who’s going to be an unconventional thinker to get us through these times.” Kim said.
“I actually was just walking by. I was going to get Thai food somewhere and saw all these people and I thought why don’t I swing by. And then Andrew showed up.”
Kim praised Yang for his plain talk and not being a “system politician.”
“He tells you exactly what he thinks all the time. He doesn’t talk like a politician. It’s what New York needs. It’s what more of the country needs. So I’m happy to be out here with you guys supporting, getting new voters registered and getting a foundation of voters for Andrew to win.”
Yang is running in a crowded field of some two dozen candidates. It’s his first run for local office after running a surprisingly strong campaign for president that had him outlasting more established politicians.
The Democratic primary is this June 22 for mayor of New York. You must be a registered Democrat to vote in the party’s primary. Supporters of Yang say the deadline to switch parties in New York is February 14. The city is overwhelmingly Democrat and elections are often determined in the primary.
“We need to reach out to the Asian American community that
this is a tipping point moment when an Asian American can actually be the
mayor of New York City,” Victor Huey of COMA, Chinatown Organization of Media Awakening, said to AsAmNews. “In order for that to happen we need to vote smart and together. Even if they voted for Trump and are stoutly Republican, they can always vote for the Republican candidate in November. This is all about getting Andrew on the ballot in November.”
Earlier in the week, Kim celebrated his new role on The Hot Zone.
“Hardly the biggest news given what’s going on in the world today. But after 31 years of working in TV, this is my first series lead,” he proclaimed on social media.
Season 2 of the six part anthology series will center around an anonymous bioterrorist attack that happened shortly after 9/11. Kim will play FBI agent Matthew Ryker and will star alongside Tony Goldwyn.
According to Cinema Blend, filming is expected to start this winter. No word on when it might air. Season 1 aired in 2019 and starred Julianna Margulies, Noah Emmerich and Topher Grace. The debut season focused on the Ebola disease.
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