8 Asians

As we get closer to election day, there are still endless fundraisers to attend. Running for office is unfortunately an expensive endeavor, even for small media markets like Portland, Oregon. Today, I had the opportunity again to meet Congressman David Wu, America’s only Chinese/Taiwanese American in Congress (House & Senate), out of a total of 535 members! (435 in the House, 100 in the Senate). He is running for his 6th term in Congress which he should win fairly easily.

So much so that Congressman Wu suggested at the fundraiser to instead, donate to David Chiu, who is currently running for San Francisco City Supervisor and was in attendance – and said that he would be writing a maximum contribution of $500 to Chiu’s campaign. Obviously, David Chiu was very honored and touched at Wu’s efforts.

Wu’s Congressional district is approximately 5% Asian American, and Oregon overall, about 4.25% Asian American. Wu’s local paper, The Oregonian, recently endorsed Wu last week, in “A more experienced, better focused David Wu“:

“… Wu’s visit was designed to be an endorsement interview (he faces only token opposition this election), and he ran through a seven-page list of his accomplishments over the past several years. Wu’s work in Congress is focused on education, health care, science and technology… Wu is one of the truly strong and consistent supporters of community colleges in Congress, and his inside-baseball work on higher education, veterans’ care, energy and other issues seems widely appreciated across the 1st District..”

I hope all of you can support qualified Asian American candidates wherever you live. Local candidates are a pipeline for statewide, and then eventually nationwide office. As Obama approaches to becoming the next President of the United States (hopefully), I look forward to at least hoping to see an Asian American run for the office, if not win it!