Asian Americans in politics


represent a growing share of the national population and of the electorate. The lower political participation of Asian Americans has been raised as a concern. In the 21st century, Asian Americans have become a key Democratic Party constituency.

Officeholders

State and local government

Governors

State offices

Local offices

Congress

NameImageLifeEthnicityStatePartyOffices held
Dalip Singh Saund1899-1973Indian-AmericanCaliforniaDemocraticServed from 1957-1963. First Asian-American voting member of the United States Congress. Saund, from Imperial and Riverside Counties, was the first South-Asian American, first Indian-American, first Sikh-American, and first member of a non-Abrahamic faith to be elected to Congress.
Hiram Fong1906-2004Chinese-AmericanHawaiiRepublicanServed from 1959-1977. First Chinese-American elected to Congress and first Asian-American Senator. Daniel Inouye was the first Japanese American in the House and later the first in Senate. Spark Matsunaga was the second Japanese American to serve in the House. Matsunaga and S. I. Hayakawa were the second and third Japanese Americans to serve in the Senate. Matsunaga served in the Senate between 1977 and 1990, while Hayakawa served in the Senate between 1977 and 1983.
Daniel Inouye1924-2012Japanese-AmericanHawaiiDemocraticServed from 1959-2012. First Japanese-American in the US House Representatives and later the first in the Senate.
Spark Matsunaga1916-1990Japanese-AmericanHawaiiDemocraticServed from 1971-1990. Second Japanese-American to serve in the US House Representatives and later the second in the Senate.
S. I. Hayakawa1906-1992Japanese-AmericanCaliforniaRepublican Democratic Served from 1977-1983. Third Japanese-American to serve in the US Senate.
Norman Mineta1931-Japanese-AmericanCaliforniaDemocraticServed from 1975–1995. Fourth Japanese-American to serve in the US House of Representatives.
Bob Matsui1941-2005Japanese-AmericanCaliforniaDemocraticServed from 1979-2005. Fifth Japanese-American to serve in the House.
Patsy Mink1927-2002Japanese-AmericanHawaiiDemocraticServed from 1965–1977 and again from 1990–2002. First female Asian-American and the first female Japanese-American elected to Congress.
Daniel Kahikina Akaka1924-2018Native-HawaiianHawaiiDemocraticServed from 1990-2000. Appointed as U.S. Senator of Hawaii in 1990, and then subsequently re-elected for two terms in 1994 and 2000. First congressperson of Native-Hawaiian descent.
Bobby Scott1947-Filipino-AmericanVirginiaDemocraticServing since 1993. First US born member of Congress of Filipino descent.
Jay Kim1939-Korean-AmericanCaliforniaRepublicanServed from 1993-1999. First Korean-American elected to Congress, as well as the first Korean-American elected to a national office outside of Korea. After he left office in 1999, there were no Korean Americans in Congress until the 2018 election of Andy Kim.
Andy Kim1982-Korean-AmericanNew JerseyDemocraticServing since 2019. First congressperson of Asian descent to represent New Jersey.
David Wu1955-Chinese-AmericanOregonDemocraticServed from 1998-2011. First Chinese-American of Taiwanese descent elected to Congress. Wu resigned in 2011, which was followed by a brief absence of Taiwanese Americans in Congress until the election of Grace Meng in 2012.
Joseph Cao1967-Vietnamese-AmericanLouisianaRepublicanServed from 2009-2011. First Vietnamese-American elected to Congress; since he left office in 2011 there were no Vietnamese Americans in Congress until the election of Stephanie Murphy.
Stephanie Murphy1978-Vietnamese-AmericanFloridaDemocraticServing since 2017. First female Vietnamese-American elected to Congress.
Steve Austria1958-Filipino-AmericanOhioRepublicanServed from 2009-2013. First Multiracial, Filipino-American elected to congress. First first-generation, Filipino elected to Congress.
Charles Djou1970-Thai-AmericanHawaiiIndependent Republican Served from 2010-2011. First Thai-American elected to Congress; he left Congress in 2011, and no Thai American served in the Congress until Tammy Duckworth was elected in 2012.
Tammy Duckworth1968-Thai-AmericanIllinoisDemocraticServing since 2013. First female Thai-American and first Thailand-born representative elected to Congress. Elected as a sentator in 2017.
Hansen Clarke1957-Bangladeshi-AmericanMichiganDemocraticServed from 2011-2013. First Bangladeshi-American to service in Congress. Clarke lost his seat after being defeated in the 2012 primary, and no Bangladeshi-Americans have served in Congress since.
Pramila Jayapal1965-Indian-AmericanWashingtonDemocraticServing since 2017. First female Indian-American elected to Congress from Washington.
Kamala Harris1964-Indian-AmericanCaliforniaDemocraticServing since 2017. First female Indian-American elected to Congress from California.
Grace Meng1975-Chinese-AmericanNew YorkDemocraticServing since 2013. First female Asian-American and first Chinese-American of Taiwanese descent elected to Congress from New York.
Mark Takano1960-Japanese-AmericanCaliforniaDemocratic Republican Serving since 2013. First openly gay person of Asian descent elected to Congress.
Mazie Hirono1947-Japanese-AmericanHawaiiDemocraticServing since 2007. Served in the US House of Representatives from 2007-2013. First elected female senator from Hawaii, the first Asian-American woman elected to the Senate, the first U.S. senator born in Japan, and the nation's first Buddhist senator.
Judy Chu1953-Chinese-AmericanCaliforniaDemocraticServing since 2009. First female Chinese-American elected to Congress.
Raja Krishnamoorthi1973-Indian-AmericanIllinoisDemocraticServing since 2017. First Hindu of Indian descent elected to Congress.
Tulsi Gabbard1981-Samoan-AmericanHawaiiDemocraticServing since 2013. First Hindu and first Samoan-American elected to Congress.
Amata Coleman Radewagen1947-Samoan-AmericanAmerican SamoaRepublicanServing since 2015. First female to represent American Samoa in the US Congress.

Historic

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

Current

There are presently 14 Asian Pacific Americans in the House and 3 in the Senate, in the 116th United States Congress. The following marks the total number of Asian Americans in the U.S. Congress since 1957: 36 representatives and 9 senators. Representatives include those from Japanese, Taiwanese, Filipino, Thai, Indian, Samoan, and Vietnamese American backgrounds.
Representatives Colleen Hanabusa, Doris Matsui, Mark Takano, 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.
Representative TJ Cox is Chinese and Filipino American.
Senator Tammy Duckworth is Thai American.
Representatives Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, and Senator Kamala Harris are Indian American.
Representative Tulsi Gabbard and Amata Coleman Radewagen are Samoan American.
Representative Stephanie Murphy is Vietnamese American.
Representative Andy Kim is Korean American.
Note that Scott and Harris both are multiracial; Scott is one-fourth Filipino and three-fourths African American, while Harris is one-half Indian and one-half Jamaican.

Cabinet

became the first Asian American Cabinet member when he was appointed secretary of commerce by President George W. Bush in 2000. He then served as secretary of transportation from 2001 to 2002. Also 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. She has also served as secretary of transportation in the current administration since 2017.
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 2009-2013. Additionally under Obama, Gary Locke served as secretary of commerce from 2009 to 2011.
Nikki Haley became 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.

Presidential candidates

In 1964, Hiram Fong, a Republican, became the first Asian-American candidate for president.
In 1972, Patsy Mink became the first Asian-American Democratic candidate for president, and the first Japanese-American candidate for president.
In 2015, Bobby Jindal, a Republican, became the first Indian-American candidate for president.
In 2017, Andrew Yang became the first Asian-American male Democratic candidate for president.

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. 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.
During the 1990s and 2000s, Asian American voting behavior shifted from moderate support for the Republican Party to stronger support for the Democratic Party. 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. 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. Japanese-Americans leaned toward Kerry, while Korean-Americans leaned toward Bush. Democrat Barack Obama won 62% of the Asian American vote in the 2008 presidential election, with the margin increasing during the 2012 presidential election, where Asian Americans voted to re-elect Obama by 73%. 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. 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.
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. 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. In 2008, polls indicated that 35% considered themselves non-partisan, 32% Democrats, 19% independents, and 14% Republicans. The 2012 National Asian American Survey found that 51% considered themselves non-partisan, 33% Democrats, 14% Republicans, and 2% Other; Hmong, Indian, and Korean Americans strongly identified as Democrats, and Filipino and Vietnamese Americans most strongly identified as Republicans. 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. The 2016 National Asian American Survey found that 41% of Asian Americans identified as non-partisan, 41% as Democrats, and 16% as Republicans.
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, having once been referred to as potential "Republican Jews". 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.