Funding for To the Contrary provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation the Park Foundation and the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation This week on To the Contrary Asian American Pacific women, how they run for office, how they vote, and the most important issues for these women.

Madalene Mielke of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies will tell us what this means for the future of APA women in this country.

{MUSIC } Hello, I'm Bonnie Erbé Welcome to To the Contrary, A discussion of news and social trends from diverse perspectives.

This week, the impact of Asian Pacific American women in our country.

Asian Pacific American women experienced their first congressional milestone in 1965.

That's when Patsy Takemoto Mink, a Hawaiian Democrat became the first Asian Pacific Islander to win a seat in the House of Representatives.

In 2022, at least 30 AAPI women were major party candidates for the House, two for the Senate, and five for governor.

As for AAPI voters, Democrats won their vote.

Their support for the GOP also jumped 17 points compared to the 2018 midterm.

Today our women thought leader is Madalene Mielke, president and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.

Welcome to the program.

Madalene, how are you doing?

Thanks so much for having me.

And I'm doing well.

How did Asian American Pacific Islander women do in terms of running for and winning office in the midterms this year?

Well, that's such a great question.

We've always been underrepresented.

And so with this election cycle, we are still tabulating the results.

So far, just in general, the Asian-American native Hawaiian Pacific Islander population had over 670 candidates who filed for office in the election cycle itself.

And so when you start to data disaggregate, some of this information on some of this is, you know, with a lot of local elections where we are still trying to tabulate the election results.

Asian-American women themselves have seen an increase in running for office.

And so I'm very pleased to see that at least we have more Asian-American women filing for candidacies.

But we don't know yet if there's been any increase in governor seats or House seats or Senate seats?

Not as of yet.

Right now, it's predicted that we will probably stay static in the U.S. House of Representatives, -(Bonnie) which means how many?

How many?

So that would be 11 women.

Right now, in terms of just the current elections.

But however, we will probably be at the same number once we get to the new Congress.

And nobody in the Senate?

Tammy Duckworth, Senator Duckworth from Illinois, won her reelection and so she stays.

Now, what is happening with Asian American Pacific Islander voters right now?

What was their biggest issue in the 2022 election?

And how did the vote split Democrat versus Republican?

So in the most recent poll that was done with my colleagues at AAPI vote back in July of this year, they noted that health care was the most important issue of all Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander voters That was pre Dobbs And so in general, health care in itself was something that the AAPI voters took a look at the most.

And in general, with AAPI women voters, they tend to strongly support social programs, including programs that address climate change, health care and education.

That's very interesting because the questions after the vote at the polls showed that the first the largest issue out there as far as far as named by voters was the economy and inflation.

Number two, abortion rights.

And those didn't even show up for as the within the top two or three for Asian-Americans, why?

In general, most people, when you look at the Asian-American population, we're not a monolith.

And so we have a lot of individuals and ethnic groups in the population overall that need in language, in terms of voter access.

They tend to also want to listen to their news in language and get their information in language.

So about 42% of the Asian-American population likes to have their information delivered to them in their native tongue.

And so I think when you look at polling, it's so expensive to poll that when you have to disaggregate into languages because we don't have a common language.

Sometimes that information gets missed.

Which groups of Asian-Americans are more likely to vote Democratic or Republican?

In this poll that was presented in July.

It highlights the data disaggregation within the ethnic groups, within the Asian-American constituency.

And so Japanese Americans tend to be more progressive while Vietnamese Americans tend to be more conservative.

Do you think health care was actually the top issues on the majority of people in each population, or more or less important to say, more important to say Vietnamese Americans, less important to say Japanese Americans who immigrated much earlier and have climbed the economic ladder.

One would expect.

Overall, It hit around in the 80 percentile, so a little over 80%.

People in the poll discussed that health care was their main objective.

Then it was the economy and crime still in the high eighties.

And so I think depending on the day, depending on what is happening in their own lives, and especially when you're looking at election time, what seems to be heading in terms of information or misinformation that might be out there.

That is basically what was captured at that moment in time in July.

And so when you think about what's happened, what happened during the election, if people were voting early, if they were voting by mail, the preference of Asian-American voters also in general is to vote not in person.

And so they prefer to do ballot box drop mail in votes.

And so in that sense, it just depended on the day that they voted, if any of those issues could have been interchangeable.

Do you think it makes any sense to group people from I believe Asia is the most populous, the most populous continent, because at least you have seriously the the two largest countries in the world, India, one about 1.3 or 4 billion people.

And China just ahead of that.

Does it make sense to even group Asians into one group, or is that just, you know, that, the continent of North America is much smaller in terms of people, in terms of political attitudes, in terms of languages certainly.

So does it make less sense to group all Asians into one group?

Think about it in the Asian American experience.

You know, we are a smaller population compared to other constituencies and of those who are of Hispanic or Latino descent, you know, black Americans.

And so for the Asian-American experience, which was really noted as a label back in the sixties, to really note us as a community in terms of the civil rights movement and later into the census, you're talking about being able to amplify all these different constituencies under this umbrella title.

And so I think what's important to us as a community is saying, yes, this amplifies our voice.

And at the same time, we also want data disaggregation, because oftentimes there are a lot of misconceptions that are also viewed upon the Asian-American community, because they tend to see only the most positive aspects of the community at large.

And so data disaggregation is also important to us to make sure that people understand that these ethnic groups within this community have challenges and vulnerabilities that you may not often see.

Are Asian Americans generally supportive of women who want to run for office or not?

With the APAICS organization that I work with, we also work with the Barbara Lee Family Foundation based in Massachusetts.

And the work that they do is to encourage more women in general to run for executive elected office.

And so we partner with them to look at how to look at how voters view Asian-American women candidates.

And we've learned through these surveys that through time, people can see viability in an Asian-American woman candidate if she provides private public partnerships, if she has experience in providing economic opportunities, or she's been a community advocate.

And so those three things, regardless of prior public service experience, has highlighted that regardless of party, an Asian-American woman of a certain age with those types of experiences can be viable to be elected to be governor of the state.

And so I think we are oftentimes viewed within our own community that we are not qualified or that we don't have enough experience.

However, voters have told us differently.

Can you tell me just generally, which I know we touched on this before, but let's go through the list of Vietnamese Americans, Korean- Americans, Chinese-Americans, Indian Americans uhm, Hawaiian Americans.

I mean, just go on and on down the list.

Who is more closely associated with which party?

Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Indian-Americans tend to be more left of center.

And then you'll have varying degrees, you know, with the Vietnamese right of center.

So, you know, even when you think about the state of segregation and we've seen some changes, as you mentioned earlier, from 2018 to this current cycle that we just finished that voters are making a choice to move a little bit more right, Asian-American voters.

So whether it is because someone is a new American and doesn't necessarily know all of the history of the Asian-American experience here and what it means for civil rights, or they come from a country that doesn't have democracy.

It really depends on each of these different constituencies.

And when they've come to this country to understand their own relationship with democracy.

And so as we look at younger voters within our communities, we also see that the trend is they're leaning left of center.

So it is not only just the data disaggregation of ethnic groups, but it's also a generational piece, too, that we have to review.

As I learned through reading through the material and the brief for the lawsuit by one Asian-American student group against Harvard University, and I think it is the University of North Carolina, there are, Asian-Americans total about 7% of the population, but 28% of the student body at Harvard undergrad.

Why is it that Asians do, or some groups of Asians do so much better in school on test scores and on grades than even white Americans?

And how does that affect their vote?

This also goes back to some of that data desegregation that I spoke of earlier, because you will also find that some of our constituencies, such as, you know, the Vietnamese American, newer immigrants who have come to this country, don't have the resources or the tools to be able to even finish high school.

So I think this is a part of that is, you know, when you tend to look at the data segregation of all of our different communities, you might only find, again, the positive aspects of the constituency and those that are in vulnerable, more vulnerable situations and more marginalized situations may not be as successful.

And so that is not the whole story of what is the Asian-American experience.

And so part of that is just trying to understand and educate those who are unaware of, you know, that data disaggregation when we're not a monolith.

So tell me about your own involvement in this issue.

What what brought you to it?

Why did you decide to enter politics?

Why do you keep fighting for more representation for Asian peoples?

I was very fortunate in my life to grow up in a very multicultural, diverse community, and so I wanted to see that also in my professional life, in my work.

I was also the student body president of my high school and also vice president of my student body of an all women elected executive board in the South.

And so I believe that a reflective democracy demands that every community feel that they are empowered to be a part of the public policy discussion that's needed to have robust and dynamic public policy developed for all of our communities.

Tell me about your own experience.

What?

So you were obviously involved in politics as a student.

Have you ever run for office?

No, I have not run for office other than in student government.

I am more than happy to be a cheerleader.

That's what I like to call myself and my organization.

I am head cheerleader for my community to make sure that they feel empowered to run themselves, and that they feel that they have the resources and tools and support from the community to feel like they are welcomed into this public sector.

How does your organization support, particularly women candidates, do you just help train them to help them out, to tell them how to run?

Do you actually fundraise for them?

We are a nonpartisan organization and so our goal is to help educate, inspire, empower and connect our communities so that they feel that they have the ability to run for office.

For Asian-American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander women.

We have a program called the Women's Collective to encourage them to build a community with each other, to support one another in their efforts to enter public service.

And so we also know that there are opportunities for all of our communities and especially our women, to enter public service as staff, as people who work in legislative bodies, people who serve on commissions and boards.

And so it's an opportunity for us to help them enter the pipeline at different phases of life and so that they have an opportunity to see that they themselves can be leaders because they already are.

Have you ever been a victim of discrimination based on race?

I mean, there are always microaggressions that I've been fortunate in my life to not have had any major incidences.

I have had a lot of close friends and family who've experienced that in their lives.

And I am fortunate that I have not.

I think the role that we play also is allies to other communities, to who are facing racism, sexism, discrimination of any kind.

And to be able to support them whenever it's needed so that we can be, you know, positive reinforcement for them when they need it, should any of those types of incidences occur.

As American fascism, at least at the at the ground level, has risen, there have been some pretty awful incidents of anti-Asian violence in this country.

Tell me how that has made you feel.

It's one of those things where it isn't spoken enough.

It's not visible enough.

We aren't necessarily sometimes seen in different aspects of life.

And so when these anti-Asian hate crimes or rhetoric comes up, you know, I would love to see my community as well as other communities join us in supporting one another.

And we have seen that with what happened in Georgia, with the murders in Georgia.

And that in itself has helped to heal and build up allyship and support with other communities of color.

And so this is the outcome of some of the things that have happened in the past couple of years through the rhetoric and through the pandemic.

You know, the U.S. Department of Justice published guidance on hate crimes and hate incidences against Asian Americans.

This is a this is in itself has also been, you know, a stressor for a lot of the community when they hear about things that are happening, especially to Asian-American women and to our elderly.

And so this in itself, you know, we're trying to help mitigate some of this by you talking about more community engagement and outreach, you know, promoting language access and allyship and prioritizing cultural competency across public sectors so that we are more engaged in a way that people can understand when these incidences happen, that we need to come together and that when these things aren't publicized, it doesn't mean that it's not happening.

You founded your own political consulting firm.

Tell me about that.

And did the community come behind you to support you when you did that?

So when I started my firm, I was 29 years old.

I was very fortunate to have already had a very good career working on campaigns and and other political entities.

And the people who actually supported me were three white women who saw that I had some talent and thought that they would support me through championing me and really advocating for my skill sets.

And eventually, I ended up doing more work with more communities of color, working to elect more Asian-American candidates and Latino candidates into office.

And that in itself helped to build stronger relationships with those constituencies and really showcase that communities of color have the expertise and the experience, you know, to win campaigns and to be strategists themselves.

Do Asian-American women and from any particular country have majority, have large groups, I should say, in statehouses?

I would think particularly along the West Coast, because that's the closest coast to Asia or other places in this country.

Actually, the only place right now that has a majority Asian-American representation in their state legislature, you know, regardless of gender, would be Hawaii and California prior to this election cycle.

We're still waiting on some returns.

There were hardly any women.

There were actually no Democratic women in the Asian caucus, in the state legislature of California.

And so, you know, we have one Republican woman.

And other than that, no other Asian-American women in the state legislature.

So there is still a lot of work to be done, even on the state level, to encourage more Asian-American women to become candidates.

You might have a single Asian-American woman such and such as in Kentucky.

You have a state rep there.

You know, in Ohio, there was a state senator there.

So very solo women.

You know, they have no other Asian-Americans, men or women, to support them in their role as a state legislator.

So there have been some increases in that in terms of caucus growth in Virginia.

So they're also up for election in 2023.

So there might be potential growth there.

So in itself, there are not that many Asian-American women, I believe there, as of the last cycle and again, still counting, tabulating what's happening this cycle, I believe there are only 77 women overall who are Asian-American across 7300 state legislative seats.

That is interesting, particularly in California.

I'm a little surprised by that because of the nature of immigration into that state.

Has it ever been higher than one?

It has been higher than one.

And and incredibly, there are two statewide elected API women.

So Betty Yee and Fiona Ma in California.

So that's a little bit of the disparity that we face.

So in 2018, when you think about at the time Vice President Harris, who was then Senator, she was one of three Asian-American women.

So you had Senator Harris, you had Senator Hirono and Senator Duckworth.

So when you have three Asian-American women sitting in the U.S. Senate, and then at the time, I think it was 67 Asian-American women in the state legislatures, that's the disparity is very wide.

And so you see people at the highest ends of of leadership.

And yet that pipeline is not as encouraging.

And so we want it to work in that direction to encourage more Asian-American, native Hawaiian Pacific Islander women to consider the state legislature.

Because what we also find is a lot of our congressional members came from state legislatures.

And so that has been their pipeline into Congress.

And you would think with such a such a high level role model to follow Vice President Kamala Harris as being half, I believe it is Indian and half African-American, you would think that would do a lot to stir up more interest by women, Asian-American women of at least part Asian background to run for office.

Why has that not happened?

Because oftentimes Asian-American women, just like other women, have to be asked multiple times to to run.

They don't feel like they are qualified.

They don't feel that they have the experience or the skill sets to become an elected official.

And that's why part of the work that we do at the Barbara Lee Family Foundation is to combat some of those internal dialogs that's happening and to really show them that voters do believe that they have the experience and that they have the ability to run for office.

And I think a lot of times it's just the educational awareness and also seeing that public sector work, whether it's serving on a board or commission or running for city council or mayor or any of those elected offices, that all of those things really have is an opportunity for Asian-American women to be leaders when they're already leaders.

They just don't think they are.

Well, thank you so much for your time.

Thanks for having me.

That's it for this edition.

And please keep the conversation going with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and visit our website, pbs.org, slash to the contrary and whether you agree or think to the contrary.

See you next week.

(MUSIC) Funding for To the Contrary provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation The Park Foundation and the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation.