I’ve been following Congressmember Grace Meng since 2012 when she was first running for Congress – and when she when she won, she was the first Asian American to be elected to Congress from New York.
Meng was in San Francisco in August for the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC)August meeting and there was a fundraiser for her that I got invited to. Meng is also DNC Vice Chair. I’ve seen Meng speak at the 2016 DNC convention on the main stage, AAPI luncheon and APIAVote – Briefing & Kick-off Reception – but this was the first time I think I had an actual chance to chat with her.
In her “speech,” Meng talked about – to a heavily Asian American crowd – her interest in establishing an Asian American museum much like the National Museum of African American History and Culture and had recently introduced a bill to study the effort; as well as talked about the upcoming 2020 census. Meng also talked about coalition building across communities that helped bring voters to the polls in elections since 2016 that have brought out more voters and helped turn the House Democratic in November 2018, and how Trump in the long term, may be the best thing that happened to bring lasting Democratic majorities in the future.
It was great to hear Meng speak in a more intimate and less hectic setting. Having been born-and-raised in the Northeast (Massachusetts), it’s great to see an East Coast Asian American representative in Congress!
