In 2011, a state senator in Gwinnett confessed he didn’t care about immigrants because “they didn’t come out to vote.” On a call the following year, a staffer explained why, based on the numbers, a candidate should invest only in a last-minute, perfunctory visit to an event to court Asian voters.
It’s time for Georgia to eat a little crow.
According to our recent Community of Contrasts demographic report, the Asian-American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population in Georgia grew by 83 percent between 2000 and 2010, higher than the nearly 70 percent growth for our Southern region. The number of Asian-Americans who registered to vote in Georgia grew by 100 percent during that time. And in a 2014 survey of Asian-American registered voters, as many as 77 percent said they would vote Nov. 4.
While Asian-Americans make up a small percentage of our state’s voting population, many of us live in concentrated geographic areas that enable us to shift election outcomes. For example, in 2012, state Rep. Pedro Marin, D-Duluth, was re-elected despite being redistricted from a 65-percent Democrat-leaning district to a 65-percent Republican-leaning district. This is because Asian-American voters who made up a significant swath of his new district made the margin of victory.
I have little doubt Asian-Americans and Native Hawaiians-Pacific Islanders impacted the outcome of certain midterm races in Georgia. The citizen voting-age population of Georgia’s 6th Congressional District (Tom Price v. Robert Montigel) is 7 percent Asian-American, while the 7th Congressional District (Rob Woodall v. Thomas Wright) is 9 percent Asian-American.
Georgia Senate District 48, covering parts of Gwinnett and north Fulton counties, has 25 percent Asian-American citizen voting-age individuals. But many districts with the highest percentages of Asian-American voters had uncontested races. Training community members to run for public office is yet another tool Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta utilizes to ensure immigrant and refugee voices are heard.
Despite our political advancement, our 2014 voter survey with APIA Vote showed 64 percent of registered Asian-American voters did not hear from Democrats, and 73 percent did not hear from Republicans. And because more Asian-Americans don’t align with a political party than do, candidates missed out on the chance to court the nation’s fastest-growing political force.
Still, we have seen more major candidates reaching out to Asian-American voters in Georgia than a few years ago. More needs to be done. Any candidate or advocacy group that wants to win elections or policy victories needs to make Asian-American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities in the South a priority. This means more than just attending an event here and there. Token gestures get old. Our electorate is getting wiser.
Helen Ho is executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. She is married to Rodney Ho, who covers TV, radio and comedy for the AJC.
