{"id":38624,"date":"2016-03-16T15:40:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T20:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=38624"},"modified":"2016-03-16T15:40:24","modified_gmt":"2016-03-16T20:40:24","slug":"illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois primary results highlight rising political power of Asian Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <a href=\"\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s=Jenny+G+Zhang\u201d\">Jenny G. Zhang<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">Tuesday\u2019s primary election proved a big win for Asian Americans, as candidates Theresa Mah, Josina Morita, Tammy Duckworth and Raja Krishnamoorthi won their respective races in Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>Mah and Morita made history by becoming, respectively, the first Asian American elected to the Illinois General Assembly and the first Asian American elected to a countywide board in Cook County.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey say in politics you\u2019re either at the table or on the table. For a really long time, Asian Americans have been on the table,\u201d said Morita, who won one of the Democratic Party seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board of Commissioners with 18.3 percent of the vote (372,755 votes).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a huge night for the Asian American community,\u201d she added. \u201cI think it\u2019s a huge sign of what\u2019s to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The months leading up to the election were marked by increasing <a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/\">civic engagement<\/a> and involvement in the political process among Asian Americans, according to community organizers.<\/p>\n<p>Former college professor Mah, who ran against incumbent State Rep. Eddie Acevedo\u2019s son, Alex Acevedo, for 2nd district state representative, attributes her 51.2-percent victory (10,470 votes) in part to the \u201crising political engagement\u201d of the Chinese community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were happily surprised when we saw the vote totals coming in because, even though we knew we were strong with that demographic, it was clear that not only were Chinese Americans voting, they were bringing their friends and families to the polls, as well,\u201d said a senior campaign staffer from Mah\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Mah had secured a <a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/demonstrators-boo-latino-officials-for-endorsing-chinese-american-candidate-theresa-mah\/\">key endorsement<\/a> from some in the Latino community, a large segment of the district&#8217;s population.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Duckworth and Krishnamoorthi made waves on a national scale in their bids for seats in the U.S. Congress.<\/p>\n<p>Duckworth, the first Asian-American congresswoman from Illinois, as well as the first disabled woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, won 64.3 percent of the vote (1,180,939 votes) to become the Democratic Party\u2019s candidate for the U.S. Senate. She will face Republican Sen. Mark Kirk in November.<\/p>\n<p>Krishnamoorthi, a local businessman who was born to Indian immigrant parents, beat two opponents to take home 56.9 percent of the vote (43,945 votes) and the Democratic nomination for Illinois\u2019s 8th congressional district, which is currently represented by Duckworth.<\/p>\n<p>Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago staff member Kristina Tendilla credits pan-Asian community efforts for mobilizing larger numbers of underrepresented Asian American voters, particularly in the northwest suburbs, where Krishnamoorthi ran.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a groundswell happening around Asian Americans as a way to carve out our own movement as a part of this broader movement,\u201d she said. \u201cFor folks who are trying to fight for Asian American and immigrant and racial justice, it\u2019s important and exciting to have legislators who are from those communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Tendilla said it\u2019s important to demand high standards from these elected officials, Asian American or not.<\/p>\n<p>She said, \u201cAs an organizer, I\u2019m really committed to working with them, but I also understand that it\u2019s my job to hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Josina Morita and Theresa Mah celebrate their historic victories. (Courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/josinamorita\/timeline\" target=\"_blank\">Josina Morita<\/a>)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jenny G. Zhang Tuesday\u2019s primary election proved a big win for Asian Americans, as candidates Theresa Mah, Josina Morita, Tammy Duckworth and Raja Krishnamoorthi won their respective races in Illinois. Mah and Morita made history by becoming, respectively, the first Asian American elected to the Illinois General Assembly and the first Asian American elected [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":38625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[766,1145,30,585],"tags":[482,2382,1938,677],"class_list":["post-38624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-election2016","category-election-2016","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2016","tag-election","tag-illinois-primary","tag-march-primary","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Illinois primary results highlight rising political power of Asian Americans - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illinois primary results highlight rising political power of Asian Americans - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jenny G. Zhang Tuesday\u2019s primary election proved a big win for Asian Americans, as candidates Theresa Mah, Josina Morita, Tammy Duckworth and Raja Krishnamoorthi won their respective races in Illinois. Mah and Morita made history by becoming, respectively, the first Asian American elected to the Illinois General Assembly and the first Asian American elected [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-16T20:40:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/josina-morita-theresa-mah.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"877\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jennyzhang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jennyzhang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jennyzhang\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9914cac0a7b6e94f773830eaab764ee1\"},\"headline\":\"Illinois primary results highlight rising political power of Asian Americans\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-16T20:40:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":540,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/josina-morita-theresa-mah.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Election\",\"illinois primary\",\"March primary\",\"Politics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Election 2016\",\"Election 2016\",\"Public Affairs\",\"Winter 2016\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/\",\"name\":\"Illinois primary results highlight rising political power of Asian Americans - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/josina-morita-theresa-mah.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-16T20:40:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9914cac0a7b6e94f773830eaab764ee1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/illinois-primary-results-highlight-rising-political-power-of-asian-americans\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/josina-morita-theresa-mah.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/josina-morita-theresa-mah.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":877,\"caption\":\"Josina Morita and Theresa Mah celebrate their historic victories. 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