Battleground states briefing - 11/5/24

Each column was tailored to the specific community the publication served, ranging from the World Journal’s Chinese readers to The Juggernaut’s South Asian audience and the Việt Báo Daily News’ Vietnamese constituents.

Many members of the AAPI community still remain unable to fully exercise that right due to laws barring U.S. territories like Guam from voting in the presidential race.

Iowa’s 51,381 eligible AAPI voters make up about 2.1% of its electorate. The constituency, similar to AAPI electorates in other states, grew substantially (45.6%) from 2012 to 2022. The majority of the population entered the U.S. after 1990 and is comprised of Southeast Asian refugees who relocated post-Vietnam War.

While Harris prioritized other states in campaign tours, Iowa’s Democratic officials told the New York Times’ Reid J. Epstein and Nicholas Nehamas that opposition to the state’s six-week abortion ban, which took effect this summer, activated voters in ways that could shift the map.

79% of AAPI adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to 64% of the general public, according to a March AAPI Data/AP-NORC survey. That support is demonstrable across Asian ethnic groups.

What to watch: A federal judge recently declined to stop Iowa from challenging the validity of hundreds of ballots from potential noncitizens, which critics say could disenfranchise recently naturalized voters. The state is also in the middle of a legal dispute over a 2002 law that mandates English-only voting materials.

In Gwinnett, Asian Americans lean more Republican than the they do at the national level. Many are new immigrants, so Harris’ own identity as an Asian American is not necessarily a defining factor.

Phi Nguyen, an Atlanta-based senior strategist with AAPI Victory Fund, cited in-language materials and more Asian American faces in canvassing and campaigning as having the largest impacts in an interview with NBC News’ Kimmy Yam.

The legal advocacy group Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta has also mobilized election protection teams in 25 cities across eight counties to focus on ensuring AAPI voters’ rights. 

Gloria Caoile, a Filipino American community leader and Democratic organizer, told the New York Times’ Amy Qin that the Democrats’ targeted mobilization efforts are encouraging more Filipino Americans to vote this year.

“For a long time, civic engagement was nonexistent because most of our folks were working two or three jobs or running their own businesses,” Caoile said. “But now the tide has changed.”

About 8% of Philadelphia residents are of Asian heritage, according to 2022 Census data, making the city’s suburbs a key spot for courting AAPI voters.

Meanwhile Trump, who similarly commemorated the cultural holiday on social media, condemned violence against religious minorities in Bangladesh while claiming that Harris has ignored Hindus as vice president.

Of note: Voter guides for residents of  Montgomery County—the state’s third largest county—were translated and distributed in eight different languages, including Hindi and Korean, for the first time ever.

“It’s definitely a different energy this time around, better than 2020. Especially with Harris … on a ticket now, really boosts our energy and to get out there and vote,” Thay Yang, CEO of a Hmong news station in Milwaukee, told The Hill’s Yash Roy about the Harris campaign’s efforts to reach Hmong Americans in Wisconsin.

Though the Trump campaign hasn’t made notable outreach efforts to the AAPI community, the former president did hammer in on inflation, a top concern for eligible AAPI voters, at recent stops in Wisconsin and even revised his famous slogan to “Make America Affordable Again.”

“These events are a chance to come together, share in the excitement of voting, and support each other in shaping a future that reflects the needs and aspirations of our community,” per an APIAVote statement.

In late October, Trump notably held a campaign rally in Michigan specifically focused on Arab American and Muslim voters. The Republican candidate, who was joined onstage by Muslim leaders, criticized Israel’s war in Gaza and promised peace and prosperity.

“We, as Muslims, stand with President Trump because he promises peace—he promises peace, not war,” Imam Belal Alzuhairi, a prominent leader of Michigan’s Muslim community, said on stage. “We are supporting Donald Trump because he promised to end war in the Middle East and Ukraine.” 

Just two days before the election, vice presidential candidate JD Vance held a rally in Derry, where he predicted a Trump victory in New Hampshire and told voters the campaign is “expanding the map” compared to past presidential races. “I believe that in two days we’re going to turn New Hampshire red and make Donald Trump the next president,” the Ohio senator said.

Meanwhile, the New Hampshire Democratic Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus led a New Hampshire AANHPI for Harris Weekend of Action in partnership with South Asians for Harris in late September and held door-knocking drives with the New Hampshire Democratic Latino Caucus.

ACT and other grassroots organizations continued to hold canvassing and phone banking events in the days leading up to the election.

Though Florida may no longer be a viable state for the Harris campaign, President Joe Biden was elected in 2020 without winning Florida—he was the first presidential candidate to do so since Bill Clinton.