Asian-Americans are a key force in the US Senate run-off elections in Georgia

While the Asian-American and Pacific Islander population comprises around 4 per cent of Georgia’s population, they have emerged as a key political force

The state’s diverse Asian communities largely came together to favour the Democrats in November, a trend the party hopes is repeated in January run-off election

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Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff, left, and Raphael Warnock bump elbows on stage at a rally in Jonesboro, Georgia on November 19. Photo: Zuma Press via TNS

Published: 10:00am, 26 Dec 2020Updated: 10:00am, 26 Dec 2020

When Georgia resident Baoky Vu first moved to the Atlanta area a few years after his family fled the war-torn South Vietnamese capital of Saigon in 1975, he remembers seeing few people who looked like him.

“In fact, in Georgia’s DeKalb county, you had maybe two or three Asian families in 1978. When I went to high school in Gwinnett county, which is now part of metro Atlanta, there were fewer than 10 Asian-Americans out of a student body of 1,600,” recalls Vu.

The son of a South Vietnamese diplomat, Vu developed an interest in politics at an early age and eventually served as commissioner to then-President George W. Bush’s presidential advisory commission on Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders and as a member of the DeKalb county board of voter registration and elections.

“We learned how to get involved, and not let walls build up,” he said.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) poll monitors with a sign offering assistance in various languages, including Vietnamese and Hindi, in Georgia. Credit: James Woo

These days, Vu is far from being a rare Asian-American face in Georgia. According to data from the Georgia-based Asian American Advocacy Fund (AAAF), the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community is the fastest growing population in the state, with a population that has swelled 138 per cent since 2000 and now totals more than 495,000 people.

While the AAPI population comprises around 4 per cent of Georgia’s population, they have emerged as a key political force. More than 186,000 cast their ballots in November’s general election – over 65,000 more than in 2016, according to data released by the AAAF. Between 2016 and 2020, voter registration grew by more than 80,000.

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