Dems unveil new ads targeting AANHPI voters

By Randall Yip, Executive Editor

(A previous version of this article misidentified the districts where money targeting AANHPI voters is being directed. We also misquoted Lin. We apologize for the errors.)

The Democrats Friday unveiled new multilingual ads as part of its previously announced $35 million campaign in a bid to win back control of the House.

The campaign is aimed at voters of color including Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

“So that’s the historic figure ($35 million) that we’ve been pointing folks to that encompasses the research, the organizing, the paid media investments across our constituencies and across the country,” said Sarah Lin, National AANHPI Engagement Deputy Director.

It specifically targets AANHPI voters in three key Congressional districts identified by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as pivotal.

The paid digital, direct mail, print, and radio ads will be published in Vietnamese, Korean, and both simplified and traditional Chinese, said the DCCC.

The Asian language campaign will be directed to California District 45 and 47 and Nevada’s third Congressional District.

Among the candidates being supported are those in districts the Democrats hope to flip from red to blue- Democrat Derek Tran is running against incumbent Michelle Steele (R-Westminster) in district 45 where Lin says Asian Americans of voting age represent 38% of the voting population.

In District 47, the party hopes Dave Min (D) can retain the seat previously held by Katie Porter who lost her bid to run for U.S. Senate. Min is running against Scott Baugh (R) for the open seat.

Finally in Nevada District 3, Democratic incumbent Susie Lee is running in the battleground district against Drew Johnson (R).

Both parties have been criticized for their lack of outreach to Asian American and Pacific Islander voters.

Researcher Karthick Ramakrishnan who just joined the Asian American Research Center this summer at UC Berkeley has been among those critics.

“The important thing will be to figure out how much of that money will not only be spent in advertising, but also door knocking and voter education. How much is advertising through ethnic media? How much is showing up at events? The headline sounds impressive. The importance is in the details,” he said to AsAmNews.

Democratic consultant Trip Yang of Trip Yang Strategies encourages the party to build genuine relationships with the AAPI community.

“Whether it’s for President in states like Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, or for control the House, which is the case in New York, Southern California, Nevada, New Jersey, API voters really, really matter. We’re not asking Democrats to reach out to Asian American voters because it feels good. It’s about winning as well,” he told AsAmNews.

Lin doesn’t disagree that her party has to engage these voters and address what’s important to them.

“We’ve been very excited throughout the cycle to speak to these voters to make sure that they are receiving culturally specific communication from the committee. So that they can be mobilized so that they we can continue to ensure that they know that the AANHPI electorate is a key part of our ability to take back the house.”