Asian Americans in politics

Asian Americans represent a growing share of the national population and of the electorate.[1] The lower political participation of Asian Americans has been raised as a concern, especially as it relates to their influence on politics in the United States.[2][3] In the 21st century, Asian Americans have become a key Democratic Party constituency.[4][5]

Officeholders

Vice president

Name	Image	Term	Ethnicity	State	Party	Offices held
Kamala Harris (1964–)		2021–present	Indian American	California	Democratic	Harris, who is half Indian American,[6] became the US' first female vice president, the highest-ranking female elected official in U.S. history, and the first African-American and first Asian-American vice president.[7][8]

Senate

(Note: Senators are organized first in chronological order according to their first term in office, then second in alphabetical order according to their surname.)

Senator		Asian and/or Pacific Islander ethnicity	Party	State	Tenure			Notes
Senator		Asian and/or Pacific Islander ethnicity	Party	State	Term start	Term end	Length of service	Notes
	Hiram Fong (1906–2004)	Chinese[S 1]	Republican	Hawaii	August 21, 1959	January 3, 1977	17 years, 135 days	Retired
	Daniel Inouye (1924–2012)	Japanese[S 2]	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 1963	December 17, 2012	49 years, 349 days	Died in office
	S. I. Hayakawa (1906–1992)	Japanese	Republican	California	January 2, 1977	January 3, 1983	6 years, 1 day	Retired
	Spark Matsunaga (1916–1990)	Japanese	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 1977	April 15, 1990	13 years, 102 days	Died in office
	Daniel Akaka (1924–2018)	Hawaiian, Chinese[S 3]	Democratic	Hawaii	May 16, 1990	January 3, 2013	22 years, 232 days	Initially appointed; later re-elected Retired
	John Ensign (born 1958)	Filipino[S 4]	Republican	Nevada	January 3, 2001	May 3, 2011	10 years, 120 days	Resigned
	Mazie Hirono (born 1947)	Japanese[S 5]	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 2013	Incumbent	10 years, 298 days
	Tammy Duckworth (born 1968)	Thai, Chinese[S 6]	Democratic	Illinois	January 3, 2017	Incumbent	6 years, 298 days
	Kamala Harris (born 1964)	Indian[S 7]	Democratic	California	January 3, 2017	January 18, 2021	4 years, 15 days	Resigned to become Vice President

First American of Chinese ancestry elected to Congress
First Japanese American elected to the Senate
First Native Hawaiian to serve in the Senate
First person of Filipino ancestry elected to the Senate
First Asian-American woman elected to the Senate
First Thai American elected to the Senate
First person of South Asian ancestry elected to the Senate; together with Pramila Jayapal, first Indian-American woman elected to Congress

House of Representatives

(Note: Representatives are organized first in chronological order according to their first term in office, then second in alphabetical order according to their surname.)

Representative		Asian and/or Pacific Islander ethnicity	Party	State	Tenure			Notes
Representative		Asian and/or Pacific Islander ethnicity	Party	State	Term start	Term end	Length of service	Notes
	Dalip Singh Saund (1899–1973)	Indian[H 1]	Democratic	California	January 3, 1957	January 3, 1963	6 years, 0 days	Lost reelection
	Daniel Inouye (1924–2012)	Japanese[H 2]	Democratic	Hawaii	August 21, 1959	January 3, 1963	3 years, 135 days	Retired to run successfully for U.S. Senate
	Spark Matsunaga (1916–1990)	Japanese	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 1963	January 3, 1977	14 years, 0 days	Retired to run successfully for U.S. Senate
	Patsy Mink (1927–2002)	Japanese[H 3]	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 1965	January 3, 1977	12 years, 0 days	Retired to run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate
	Patsy Mink (1927–2002)	Japanese[H 3]	Democratic	Hawaii	September 22, 1990	September 28, 2002	12 years, 6 days	Died in office
	Norman Mineta (1931–2022)	Japanese	Democratic	California	January 3, 1975	October 10, 1995	20 years, 280 days	Resigned Later served as Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of Transportation
	Daniel Akaka (1924–2018)	Chinese	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 1977	May 16, 1990	13 years, 133 days	Resigned after being appointed to the U.S. Senate
	Bob Matsui (1941–2005)	Japanese	Democratic	California	January 3, 1979	January 1, 2005	25 years, 364 days	Died in office
	Mervyn Dymally (1926–2012)	Indian[H 4]	Democratic	California	January 3, 1981	January 3, 1993	12 years, 0 days	Retired
	Pat Saiki (born 1930)	Japanese	Republican	Hawaii	January 3, 1987	January 3, 1991	4 years, 0 days	Retired to run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate
	Jay Kim (born 1939)	Korean[H 5]	Republican	California	January 3, 1993	January 3, 1999	6 years, 0 days	Lost renomination
	Bobby Scott (born 1947)	Filipino[H 6]	Democratic	Virginia	January 3, 1993	Incumbent	30 years, 298 days
	John Ensign (born 1958)	Filipino	Republican	Nevada	January 3, 1995	January 3, 1999	4 years, 0 days	Retired to run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate Later elected to the U.S. Senate from Nevada
	David Wu (born 1955)	Taiwanese[H 7]	Democratic	Oregon	January 3, 1999	August 3, 2011	12 years, 212 days	Resigned
	Mike Honda (born 1941)	Japanese	Democratic	California	January 3, 2001	January 3, 2017	16 years, 0 days	Lost reelection
	Bobby Jindal (born 1971)	Indian	Republican	Louisiana	January 3, 2005	January 14, 2008	3 years, 11 days	Resigned to run successfully for Governor
	Doris Matsui (born 1944)	Japanese	Democratic	California	March 8, 2005	Incumbent	18 years, 234 days	Elected to succeed late husband
	Mazie Hirono (born 1947)	Japanese	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 2007	January 3, 2013	6 years, 0 days	Retired to run successfully for U.S. Senate
	Steve Austria (born 1958)	Filipino	Republican	Ohio	January 3, 2009	January 3, 2013	4 years, 0 days	Retired following decennial redistricting
	Joseph Cao (born 1967)	Vietnamese[H 8]	Republican	Louisiana	January 3, 2009	January 3, 2011	2 years, 0 days	Lost reelection
	Judy Chu (born 1953)	Chinese[H 9]	Democratic	California	July 14, 2009	Incumbent	14 years, 106 days
	Charles Djou (born 1970)	Thai, Chinese[H 10]	Republican	Hawaii	May 22, 2010	January 3, 2011	226 days	Lost reelection
	Hansen Clarke (born 1957)	Bangladeshi[H 11]	Democratic	Michigan	January 3, 2011	January 3, 2013	2 years, 0 days	Lost renomination following decennial redistricting
	Colleen Hanabusa (born 1951)	Japanese	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 2011	January 3, 2015	4 years, 0 days	Retired to run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate
	Colleen Hanabusa (born 1951)	Japanese	Democratic	Hawaii	November 14, 2016	January 3, 2019	2 years, 50 days	Retired to run unsuccessfully for Governor
	Ami Bera (born 1965)	Indian	Democratic	California	January 3, 2013	Incumbent	10 years, 298 days
	Tammy Duckworth (born 1968)	Thai, Chinese[H 12]	Democratic	Illinois	January 3, 2013	January 3, 2017	4 years, 0 days	Retired to run successfully for U.S. Senate
	Tulsi Gabbard (born 1981)	Samoan[H 13]	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 2013	January 3, 2021	8 years, 0 days	Retired after having run unsuccessfully for President, became an independent in 2022
	Grace Meng (born 1975)	Taiwanese[H 14]	Democratic	New York	January 3, 2013	Incumbent	10 years, 298 days
	Mark Takano (born 1960)	Japanese[H 15]	Democratic	California	January 3, 2013	Incumbent	10 years, 298 days
	Ted Lieu (born 1969)	Taiwanese	Democratic	California	January 3, 2015	Incumbent	8 years, 298 days
	Mark Takai (1967–2016)	Japanese	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 2015	July 20, 2016	1 year, 199 days	Died in office
	Pramila Jayapal (born 1965)	Indian[H 16]	Democratic	Washington	January 3, 2017	Incumbent	6 years, 298 days
	Ro Khanna (born 1976)	Indian	Democratic	California	January 3, 2017	Incumbent	6 years, 298 days
	Raja Krishnamoorthi (born 1973)	Indian	Democratic	Illinois	January 3, 2017	Incumbent	6 years, 298 days
	Stephanie Murphy (born 1978)	Vietnamese[H 17]	Democratic	Florida	January 3, 2017	January 3, 2023	6 years, 0 days	Retired
	TJ Cox (born 1963)	Filipino, Chinese	Democratic	California	January 3, 2019	January 3, 2021	2 years, 0 days	Lost reelection
	Andy Kim (born 1982)	Korean	Democratic	New Jersey	January 3, 2019	Incumbent	4 years, 298 days
	Young Kim (born 1962)	Korean[H 18]	Republican	California	January 3, 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 298 days
	Michelle Steel (born 1955)	Korean[H 18]	Republican	California	January 3, 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 298 days
	Marilyn Strickland (born 1962)	Korean[H 18]	Democratic	Washington	January 3, 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 298 days
	Shri Thanedar (born 1955)	Indian	Democratic	Michigan	January 3, 2023	Incumbent	298 days
	Jill Tokuda (born 1976)	Japanese	Democratic	Hawaii	January 3, 2023	Incumbent	298 days

First AAPI person elected to Congress as a non-delegate, and also first Indian American elected to Congress
First Japanese American elected to Congress
First Asian-American woman elected to Congress
First (and so far only) Dougla elected to Congress
First Korean American elected to Congress
First American-born Filipino elected to Congress
First Taiwanese American elected to Congress
First Vietnamese American elected to Congress
First Chinese-American woman elected to Congress
First Thai American elected to Congress
First person of Bangladeshi ancestry elected to Congress
First Thai-American woman elected to Congress
First woman of Pacific Islander ancestry elected to Congress
First Taiwanese-American woman elected to Congress
First openly gay person of AAPI ancestry elected to Congress
Together with Kamala Harris, first Indian-American woman elected to Congress
First Vietnamese-American woman elected to Congress
Reps. Kim, Steel and Strickland are collectively the first Korean-American women elected to Congress

Governors

Name	Term	Ethnicity	State	Party	Offices held
George Ariyoshi (1926–)	1974–1986	Japanese American	Hawaii	Democratic	First American of Asian descent to be elected governor of a state of the United States.[9] He continues to hold the record as the longest-serving state governor in Hawaii.
Ben Cayetano (1939–)	1994–2002	Filipino American	Hawaii	Democratic	First Filipino American to serve as a state governor in the United States.[10]
Gary Locke (1950–)	1997–2005	Chinese American	Washington	Democratic	First Chinese American to be elected governor in United States history and the first Asian American governor in the continental United States.[11]
Bobby Jindal (1971–)	2008–2016	Indian American	Louisiana	Republican	Served in various executive positions in Louisiana and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services before being elected to Congress in 2004, and finally winning the Louisiana gubernatorial elections in 2007 (thereby becoming the first non-white governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction), the first elected Indian American governor in U.S. history,[12] as well as the second Asian American governor to serve in the continental United States.
Nikki Haley (1972–)	2011–2017	Indian American	South Carolina	Republican	Served as the 116th Governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017. Haley previously represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2010.[13] She is the first Sikh American governor in the United States,[14] first female governor of South Carolina,[14] second elected Indian American governor in U.S. history,[15] as well as the third Asian American governor to serve in the continental United States. Nikki Haley's election was not the only first for Asian Americans to occur during the 2010 election cycle.
David Ige (1957–)	2014–2022	Japanese American	Hawaii	Democratic	Served as the 8th governor of Hawaii from 2014 to 2022. First person of Okinawan descent to hold office in the U.S.[16]

Statewide offices

Name	Term	Ethnicity	State	Party	Offices held
James Kealoha (1908–1983)	1959–1962	Chinese-American	Hawaii	Republican	Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii
March Fong Eu (1922–2017)	1975–1994	Chinese-American	California	Democratic	Secretary of State of California
Jean Sadako King (1925–2013)	1978–1982	Japanese-American	Hawaii	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii
S. B. Woo (1937–)	1985–1989	Chinese-American	Delaware	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Delaware 1985 – 1989.
Cheryl Lau (1944–)	1995–1999	Chinese-American	Nevada	Republican	Nevada Secretary of State
Mazie Hirono (1947–)	1994–2002	Japanese American	Hawaii	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii
Matt Fong (1953–2011)	1995–1999	Chinese-American	California	Republican	California State Treasurer
Duke Aiona (1955–)	2002–2010	Chinese American	Hawaii	Republican	Served as Lieutenant Governor from 2002 to 2010.
Alex Sink (1948–)	2007–2011	Thai-American	Florida	Democratic	Served as Chief Financial Officer of Florida from 2007 to 2011.
Kamala Harris (1964–)	2011–2017	Indian-American	California	Democratic	Harris, who is half Indian-American,[6] became the first female, first Jamaican American, and first Asian-American state attorney general in the United States.[17]
Shan Tsutsui (1971–)	2012–2018	Japanese-American	Hawaii	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii
Sean Reyes (1971–)	2013–present	Filipino-American Japanese American	Utah	Republican	Attorney General of Utah
Doug Chin (1966–)	2015–2018	Chinese-American	Hawaii	Democratic	Served as Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii in 2018 and as Hawaii Attorney General from 2015 – 2018.
John Chiang (1962–)	2015–2019	Taiwanese-American	California	Democratic	Served as California State Treasurer from 2015 to 2019.
Fiona Ma (1966–)	2019–present	Chinese-American	California	Democratic	California State Treasurer from 2019–present.
Betty Yee (1957–)	2015–present	Chinese-American	California	Democratic	Serving as California State Controller since 2015.
William Tong (1973–)	2019–present	Chinese-American	Connecticut	Democratic	Serving as Connecticut Attorney General since 2019.
Kimberly Yee (1974–)	2019–present	Chinese-American	Arizona	Republican	Serving as Arizona State Treasurer since 2019.
Rob Bonta (1972–)	2021–present	Filipino-American	California	Democratic	Attorney General of California since 2021.
Steve Hobbs (1970–)	2021–present	Japanese-American	Washington	Democratic	Secretary of State of Washington since 2021.
Sylvia Luke (1967–)	2022–present	Korean-American	Hawaii	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii since 2022. First Korean-American politician elected to a statewide office.[18]
Aruna Miller (1964–)	2023–present	Indian American	Maryland	Democratic	Lieutenant Governor of Maryland since 2023. First South Asian lieutenant governor in the United States.
Susan C. Lee (1954–)	2023–present	Chinese American	Maryland	Democratic	Secretary of State of Maryland

State Legislative offices

Name	Term	Ethnicity	State	Party	Offices held
Edmond Gong (1930–2015)	1966–1972	Chinese-American	Florida	Democratic	Served in the Florida House of Representatives. First Asian American legislator in Florida.
Thelma Buchholdt (1934–2007)	1975–1983	Filipino-American	Alaska	Democratic	Served in the Alaska House of Representatives. First Filipino American woman legislator in the United States.
John Lim (1935–)	1993–2001, 2005-2009	Korean American	Oregon	Republican	Served in the Oregon State Senate from 1993 to 2001. Served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 2005 to 2009. While in the Oregon State Senate, he served as Majority Leader.
David Valderrama (1933–)	1991–2003	Filipino-American	Maryland	Democratic	Served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1991 to 2003. First Filipino-American elected to a state legislature in the contiguous United States.
Nimi McConigley	1994–1996	Indian-American	Wyoming	Republican	Served in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1994 to 1996. First Indian born person to be elected to any state legislature.
John Pippy (1970–)	1997–2003, 2003-2012	Thai-American	Pennsylvania	Republican	Served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1997 to 2003 before being elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate.
Blake Oshiro (1970–)	2001–2011	Okinawan American	Hawaii	Democratic	Served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2001 to 2011. Oshiro was majority leader during his tenure.
Saghir Tahir (1945–2013)	2001–2011	Pakastani American	New Hampshire	Republican	Served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 2001 to 2011. First Pakastan native to be elected to any state legislature, and first Muslim American elected to any political office in the United States.
Shirley Horton (1952–)	2002–2008	Japanese American	California	Republican	Served in the California State Assembly.
Nikki Haley (1972–)	2005–2011	Indian American	South Carolina	Republican	Serving in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011. First Indian American to be elected to the South Carolina legislature. She would later be elected governor.
Hubert Vo (1956–)	2005–present	Vietnamese-American	Texas	Democratic	Serving in the Texas House of Representatives since 2005. First Vietnamese American to be elected to the Texas Legislature.
Kris Valderrama (1970–)	2007–present	Filipino American	Maryland	Democratic	Served in the Maryland House of Delegates
Saqib Ali (1971–)	2007–2011	Pakastani American Indian American	Maryland	Democratic	Served in the Maryland House of Delegates
Tony Fulton (1972–)	2007–2013	Filipino American	Nebraska	Republican	Served in the Nebraska Legislature from 2007 to 2013. Currently the tax commissioner of Nebraska.
Sharon Har	2007–2022	Korean American	Hawaii	Democratic	Serving in the Hawaii House of Representatives.
Scott Kawasaki (1975–)	2007–2019, 2019–present	Japanese American	Alaska	Democratic	Served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019 before being elected to the Alaska State Senate in 2019.
Angie Chen Button (1954–)	2009–present	Chinese-American	Texas	Republican	Serving in the Texas House of Representatives since 2009.
Tony Hwang (1964–)	2009–2015, 2015–present	Taiwanese American	Connecticut	Republican	Served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 2009 to 2015 before being elected to the Connecticut State Senate where he currently serves.
Mark Keam (1966–)	2010–2022	Korean American	Virginia	Democratic	Served in the Virginia House of Delegates
B. J. Pak (1980–)	2011–2017	Korean American	Georgia	Republican	Served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017. In 2017 he was nominated and confirmed as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia
Phil Ting (1969–)	2012-present	Chinese-American	California	Democratic	Serving in the California State Assembly since 2012.
Ron Kim (1979–)	2013–present	Korean American	New York	Democratic	Serving in the New York State Assembly
Brian Shiozawa	2013–2017	Japanese American	Utah	Republican	Served in the Utah State Senate
Gene Wu (1978–)	2013–present	Chinese-American	Texas	Democratic	Serving in the Texas House of Representatives since 2013.
Ling Ling Chang (1976–)	2014–2016, 2018-2020	Taiwanese-American	California	Republican	From 2014 to 2016 Chang served in the California State Assembly. In 2016 she ran for a seat in the California State Senate and lost, but the incumbent was recalled, and she won the special election for the remainder of his term.
Janet Nguyen (1976–)	2014–2018, 2020–2022, 2022–present	Vietnamese-American	California	Republican	From 2014 to 2018 Nguyen served in the California State Senate making her the first Vietnamese American to serve in any state senate. After narrowly losing reelection, she ran for and won a seat in the California State Assembly in 2020. In 2022 Nguyen ran again for the California State Senate and won.
Andria Tupola (1980–)	2014–2018	Samoan American	Hawaii	Republican	Served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2014 to 2018. In 2015 for one year, she served as minority floor leader.
Ervin Yen	2014–2018	Taiwanese-American	Oklahoma	Republican	Served in the Oklahoma Senate from 2014 to 2018.
Roxanne Persaud	2015-2015, 2015–present	Indian American	New York	Democratic	Served in the New York State Assembly from January 2015-November 2015. Serving in the New York Senate since 2015.
Mark S. Chang (1978–)	2015–present	Korean-American	Maryland	Democratic	Serving in the Maryland House of Delegates since 2015.
Clarence K. Lam (1980–)	2015–2019, 2019–present	Chinese-American	Maryland	Democratic	Served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2015 to 2019 before being elected to the Maryland Senate in 2019, where he is currently.
Phillip Chen (1978–)	2016–present	Chinese-American	California	Republican	Serving in the California State Assembly since 2016.
Steven Choi (1944–)	2016–2022	Korean American	California	Republican	Member of the California State Assembly
Vince Fong (1979–)	2016–present	Chinese-American	California	Republican	Serving in the California State Assembly since 2016.
Todd Gloria (1978–)	2016–2020	Filipino American	California	Democratic	House Majority Whip and member of the California State Assembly
Manka Dhingra (1973 or 1974–)	2017–present	Indian-American	Washington	Democratic	Serving in the Washington State Senate since 2017.
Bee Nguyen (1978–)	2017–present	Vietnamese-American	Georgia	Democratic	Serving in the Georgia House of Representatives since 2017. First Vietnamese American in the Georgia House of Representatives.
Vandana Slatter (1981–)	2017–present	Indian-American	Washington	Democratic	Serving in the Washington State House since 2017.
Dean Tran (1978–)	2017–2021	Vietnamese-American	Massachusetts	Republican	Served in the Massachusetts Senate, first Vietnamese American to hold elected office in Massachusetts.
Tyler Diep	2018–2020	Vietnamese-American	California	Republican	Served in the California State Assembly.
Val Okimoto	2018–2022	Japanese-American Filipino American	Hawaii	Republican	Served in the Hawaii House of Representatives. Minority leader from 2021-2022.
Daniel Pae (1995–)	2018–present	Korean-American	Oklahoma	Republican	Serving in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
Saud Anwar (1962–)	2019–present	Pakastani American	Connecticut	Democratic	Serving in the Connecticut State Senate.
Harry Bhandari (1977–)	2019–present	Nepalese-American	Maryland	Democratic	Serving in the Maryland House of Delegates.
Kaohly Her (1978–)	2019–present	Hmong-American	Minnesota	Democratic	Serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Tina Maharath (1978–)	2019–present	Laotian-American	Ohio	Democratic	Serving in the Ohio State Senate. First Laotian American elected to public office.
Mike Giallombardo (1982-)	2020-present	Korean-American	Florida	Republican	Serving in the Florida House of Representatives since 2020.
Charlice Byrd (1951-)	2021-present	Chinese-American	Georgia	Republican	Serving in the Georgia house of representatives
Kimberly Fiorello (1975-)	2021-2023	Korean-American	Connecticut	Republican	Serving in the Connecticut house of representatives
Quang Nguyen (1962-)	2021-present	Vietnamese-American	Arizona	Republican	Serving in the Arizona House of Representatives since 2021.
Shri Thanedar (1955-)	2021-2023	Indian American	Michigan	Democratic	Serving in the Michigan House of Representatives since 2021.
Lester Chang (1973–)	2023–present	Chinese-American	New York	Republican	Serving in the New York State Assembly since 2023.
Justin Jones (1995–)	2023–	Filipino American	Tennessee	Democratic	Served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from January 10, 2023 to April 6, 2023.
Nabilah Islam (1989–)	2023-present	Bangladeshi-American	Georgia	Democratic	Serving in the Georgia House of Representatives since 2023.
Tri Ta (1973–)	2023–present	Vietnamese-American	California	Republican	Serving in the California State Assembly since 2023.
Chao Wu (1976 or 1977–)	2023–present	Chinese-American	Maryland	Democratic	Serving in the Maryland House of Delegates since 2023.

Mayors

Name	Term	Ethnicity	State	Party	Offices held
Kinjiro Matsudaira (1885–1963)	1927, 1943	Japanese American	Maryland		Mayor of Edmonston, Maryland, elected in 1927 and 1943[19]
James Kanno (1925–2017)	1957–1962	Japanese American	California		First mayor of Fountain Valley, California[20]
Norman Mineta (1931–2022)	1971–1975	Japanese American	California	Democratic	Served as mayor of San Jose, California.[21]
Sak Yamamoto (1914–1997)	1973–1974, 1977–1979	Japanese American	California		Mayor of Carson, California[22]
S. Floyd Mori (1939–)	1974–1975	Japanese American	California	Democratic	Mayor of Pleasanton, California[23]
Eunice Sato (1921–2021)	1980–1982	Japanese American	California	Republican	Mayor of Long Beach, California
Nao Takasugi (1922–2009)	1982–1992	Japanese American	California	Republican	Mayor of Oxnard, California elected in 1982 and re-elected four times[24]
Judy Chu (1953–)	1989–1994	Chinese American	California	Democratic	Three term mayor of Monterey Park, California starting in 1989
Carol Liu	1992– 2000	Chinese American	California	Democratic	Mayor of La Cañada Flintridge
Jimmie R. Yee (1934–)	1999–2000	Chinese American	California	Democratic	Mayor of Sacramento, California[25]
Alan Nakanishi (1940–)	2000–2001, 2012–2013, 2017–2018, 2020–2021	Japanese American	California	Republican	Mayor of Lodi, California for four two-year terms[26]
Harry Kim (1939–)	2000–2008, 2016–2020	Korean American	Hawaii	Independent	Mayor of Hawaii County, Hawaii
Otto Lee	2005–2007	Chinese American	California	Democratic	Mayor of Sunnyvale, California
Ken Miyagishima (1963–)	2007–present	Japanese American	New Mexico	Democratic	Four-term mayor of Las Cruces, New Mexico first elected in 2007[27]
Sukhee Kang (1952–)	2008–2012	Korean American	California	Democratic	Mayor of Irvine, California[28]
Evan Low	2009–2015	Chinese American	California	Democratic	Mayor of Campbell, California
Marilyn Strickland	2010–2018	Korean American	Washington	Democratic	Mayor of Tacoma, Washington
Ed Lee (1952–2017)	2011–2017	Chinese American	California	Democratic	Served as first Asian American mayor of San Francisco until his death in 2017.[29]
Jean Quan (1949–)	2011–2015	Chinese American	California	Democratic	Mayor of Oakland, California 2011–2015[30]
Steven Choi (1944–)	2012–2016	Korean American	California	Republican	Mayor of Irvine, California
Bao Nguyen (1980–)	2014–2016	Vietnamese American	California	Democratic	Mayor of Garden Grove, California
Karen Goh (1955–)	2017–present	Chinese American	California	Republican	Mayor of Bakersfield, California[31]
Ron Nirenberg (1977–)	2017–present	Filipino American, Malaysian American, Indian American	California	Independent	Mayor of San Antonio, Texas
Ravinder Bhalla (1974–)	2018–present	Indian American	New Jersey	Democratic	Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey[32]
Harry Sidhu (1957–)	2018–2022	Indian American	California	Republican	Mayor of Anaheim, California[33]
Sumbul Siddiqui (1988–)	2020–	Pakistani American	Massachusetts	Democratic	Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts
Farrah Khan (1971–)	2020–	Pakistani American	California	Democratic	Mayor of Irvine, California
Todd Gloria (1978–)	2020–present	Filipino American	California	Democratic	Mayor of San Diego[34]
Michelle Wu (1985–)	2021–present	Taiwanese American	Massachusetts	Democratic	Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts
Bruce Harrell (1958–)	2022–present	Japanese American	Washington	Democratic	Mayor of Seattle, Washington[35]
Sokhary Chau	2022–present	Cambodian American	Massachusetts		Mayor of Lowell, Massachusetts
Aftab Pureval (1982–)	2022–present	Indian American, Tibetan American	Ohio	Democratic	Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio
Helen Tran (1981/1982–)	2022–present	Vietnamese American	California	Democratic	Mayor of San Bernardino, California
Sheng Thao (1985–)	2023–present	Hmong American	California	Democratic	Mayor of Oakland, California

Historic

Benito Legarda and Pablo Ocampo, joined the House in 1907 as Resident Commissioners,[36] becoming the first Asian Americans to serve in the Congress, albeit as non-voting members.[37]

Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii was the President pro tempore of the United States Senate and the highest-ranking Asian American in congressional history.

In 2010, Inouye was sworn in as President Pro Tempore making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in American history until Kamala Harris was the first Asian American to become Vice President of the United States in November 2020, and assumed the role of President of the U.S. Senate.

Current

There are presently 16 Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders in the House and 2 in the Senate in the 118th United States Congress.[38][39] The following marks the total number of Asian Americans in the U.S. Congress since 1957: 39 representatives and 9 senators. Representatives include those from Japanese, Taiwanese, Filipino, Thai, Indian, and Chinese backgrounds.

Representatives Doris Matsui, Mark Takano, Jill Tokuda, and Senator Mazie Hirono are Japanese American.
Representative Judy Chu is Chinese American.
Representatives Grace Meng and Ted Lieu are Taiwanese Americans.
Representative Bobby Scott is Filipino American.
Senator Tammy Duckworth is Thai American.
Representatives Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, and Shri Thanedar are Indian American.[40]
Representatives Andy Kim, Michelle Steel, Young Kim, and Marilyn Strickland are Korean American.

Note that Strickland and Scott are all multiracial. Strickland is one-half Korean and one-half African American; Scott is one-fourth Filipino and three-fourths African American.

Cabinet

Norman Mineta, first Asian American cabinet member

Norman Mineta became the first Asian American Cabinet member when he was appointed secretary of commerce by President Bill Clinton in 2000. He then served as secretary of transportation from 2001 to 2006.[41]

In the George W. Bush Administration, Elaine Chao became the first, and thus far only, Asian American woman to serve as a Cabinet secretary when she became the secretary of labor in 2001, serving until 2009.[42] She has also served as secretary of transportation in the administration of Donald Trump in 2017, serving until her resignation in 2021.

In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Eric Shinseki to the position of secretary of veterans affairs, which he held until 2014. Shinseki was the first Asian American to hold this position. Steven Chu, the first Asian American to hold the position of secretary of energy, served from 2009 to 2013. Additionally under Obama, Gary Locke served as secretary of commerce from 2009 to 2011.

In 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Nikki Haley the first Indian American to serve in a permanent Cabinet-level position when she was confirmed to the position of ambassador to the United Nations in 2017. She held the position until 2018.

In 2021, Kamala Harris became the highest ranking Asian-American to serve in a cabinet as 49th Vice President of the United States. President Joe Biden also appointed Katherine Tai to serve as U.S. Trade Representative, a cabinet-level position.

Presidential and vice-presidential candidates

Official portrait of the 49th Vice President Kamala Harris, 2021

In 1964, Hiram Fong, a Republican, became the first Asian-American candidate for president.[43][44]

In 1972, Patsy Mink became the first Asian-American Democratic candidate for president, and the first Japanese-American candidate for president.[45]

In 2015, Bobby Jindal, a Republican, became the first Indian-American candidate for president.[46][47]

In 2017, Andrew Yang became the first Taiwanese-American and the first Asian-American male Democratic candidate for president.[48][49]

In 2020, Tulsi Gabbard, who is of Samoan descent [50][51] became the second woman of color and the first Asian-American and Pacific-Islander (AAPI) presidential candidate to earn major party primary delegates.[52][53][54]

In 2020, Kamala Harris became the first Asian-American major party candidate for vice president, and later elected the first Asian-American vice president of the United States.[55]

Voting trends and party affiliation

From the 1940s to the 1990s most Asian Americans were anti-communist refugees who had fled mainland China, North Korea or Vietnam, and were strongly anti-Communist. Many had ties to conservative organizations.[56][57] In recent years, more liberal Asian-American groups such as newer Chinese and Indian immigrants have greatly changed the Asian-American political demographics, as well as a larger proportion of younger Asian Americans, many of whom have completed college degrees.[58]

During the 1990s and 2000s, Asian American voting behavior shifted from moderate support for the Republican Party to stronger support for the Democratic Party.[59] In the 1992 presidential election Republican George H. W. Bush received 55% of the Asian-American vote compared to 31% for Democrat Bill Clinton. Asian Americans voted Republican and were the only racial group more conservative than whites in the 1990s, according to surveys.[56] By the 2004 election, Democrat John Kerry won 56% of the Asian American vote, with Chinese and Indian Americans tending to support Kerry, and Vietnamese and Filipino Americans tending to support George Bush.[60] Japanese-Americans leaned toward Kerry, while Korean-Americans leaned toward Bush.[60] Democrat Barack Obama won 62% of the Asian American vote in the 2008 presidential election,[61] with the margin increasing during the 2012 presidential election, where Asian Americans voted to re-elect Obama by 73%.[62] In the 2014 midterm elections, based on exit polls, 50% of Asian Americans voted Republican, while 49% voted Democrat; this swing toward voting for Republicans was a shift from the strong Democratic vote in 2012, and had not reached 50% since 1996.[63] The 2016 National Asian American Survey, conducted before the 2016 presidential election, found that 55% of Asian American registered voters supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and only 14% supported Republican candidate Donald Trump.[64]

Despite their growing trend of voting for Democrats in national elections, Asian Americans have tended to identify as independents and have not developed strong ties to political parties as a group.[65] Due to the smaller size of the groups population, in comparison to the population as a whole, it has been difficult to get an adequate sampling to forecast voter outcomes for Asian Americans.[66] In 2008, polls indicated that 35% considered themselves non-partisan, 32% Democrats, 19% independents, and 14% Republicans.[67] The 2012 National Asian American Survey found that 51% considered themselves non-partisan, 33% Democrats, 14% Republicans, and 2% Other;[68][69] Hmong, Indian, and Korean Americans strongly identified as Democrats, and Filipino and Vietnamese Americans most strongly identified as Republicans.[69] In 2013, according to the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Chinese Americans were the least likely Asian American ethnicity to have a party affiliation, with only one third belonging to a party.[70] The 2016 National Asian American Survey found that 41% of Asian Americans identified as non-partisan, 41% as Democrats (a modest increase from 2008 and 2012), and 16% as Republicans.[64]

Neither the Republican nor Democratic parties have financed significant efforts to the registration of Asian Americans, however much more attention has been focused on contributions from Asian Americans,[71] having once been referred to as potential "Republican Jews".[72] As recently as 2006, the outreach efforts of America's two major political parties have been unbalanced, with the Democratic Party devoting more resources in attracting Asian Americans.[73] In 2016, a majority of Asian-Americans possessed the same political views on racial profiling, education, social security, and immigration reform as the Democratic Party; the efforts to attract Asian-Americans has produced a proportionally significant growth in Democratic affiliation by Asian-Americans from 2012 to 2016 by 12 percent.[74] In 2016, Vietnamese and Filipinos were the least likely Asian Americans to support the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, with Vietnamese the most likely to back the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.[75] Political affiliation aside, Asian Americans have trended to become more politically active as a whole, with 2008 seeing an increase of voter participation by 4% to a 49% voting rate.[76] In 2017, it was reported by The Washington Post that Asian Americans born outside of the United States trended to be more conservative, and more likely to identify as Republicans, while those who were born in the United States, who were generally younger, were more likely to identify being a Democrat.[77]

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Asian Americans in politics
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Asian Americans
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