2006 GENERAL ELECTIONS
APA Leaders Head Back to Congress with One Newly Elected Member
Published November 17, 2006
The Asian Pacific American voting block flexed its muscle at the polls last week, reelecting many of the community’s proven leaders and sending a newly anointed one to Congress to join a Democratic majority.
In Hawaii, former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono celebrated a history-making win over Republican Bob C. Hogue to become the first person born in Japan to serve in the House of Representatives.
“It makes me so proud that we are part of a country that gives those kinds of opportunities,” said Hirono to KITV Channel 4. 
Hirono, who was born in Fukushima, Japan and raised in Honolulu, was favored to pull out a win in an election charged with debate over the current war in Iraq. Throughout her campaign she vocally advocated ending the War, a goal she said she would emphasize in her first term beginning Jan. 3.
With Hirono newly elected, there are currently seven APAs in the House and two in the Senate, said William H. “Mo” Marumoto, president and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS). Although these are encouraging numbers, APAs are “still way behind” other ethnic groups in terms of Congressional representation.
Recent studies, including one from the University of California, Los Angeles, call APAs the “sleeping giant” because of increasing population and higher citizenship rates. At the recent elections, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) reported high APA voter turnout and according to U.S. Census figures, APAs are the fastest growing minority group in the United States.
This election also saw the largest number of APAs running for local and state offices.
Democrat John Chiang won a convincing victory over former Ventura County Assemblyman Tony Strickland in the race for California state controller. Chiang, a two-term member of the Board of Equalization and an attorney who specialized in tax law, was joined by several other APA leaders in Little Tokyo the eve before the elections to rally voters.
“The sleeping giant is awakening,” said Ted Lieu, California state assemblymember.
House Rule
Some well-known APA leaders cruised to victories. Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, won an easy victory against Republican Raymond Lemmy Chukwu and incumbent Doris O. Matsui, D-Sacramento, defeated 25-year-old law student at the University of California, Berkeley Claire Yan to win her first full term. Matsui, 62, replaced her late husband, Robert Matsui, in the House after his untimely death in 2005.
“As we head into a new Congress, I’m looking forward to addressing the many challenges our country is facing right now — challenges shared by many Americans including Asian Americans,” said Matsui to the Pacific Citizen. “In particular, I plan to work to address the soaring costs of health care, to ensure that a college education is affordable and continues to be a doorway to opportunity in this country, as well as to work through my seat on the Science Committee to craft a strategic, forward-thinking energy policy that sets our nation on the path to energy independence.”
Republican incumbent Bobby Jindal was also reelected to a second term to represent the New Orleans suburbs. He told local reporters that he would decide on whether to run for governor by the end of the year.
But along with victory comes the agony of defeat.
One of the most anticipated races was staged in the suburbs of Illinois. At stake was the state’s sixth district, a GOP stronghold that wounded Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth was giving a history-making grab of. She lost to Republican Peter Roskam.
Roskam won the open House seat created by the retirement of Rep. Henry Hyde, the 32-year House veteran who handpicked Hyde as his successor.
“She was really close in that race,” said Marumoto. “That’s a very conservative district. To get as close as she did really says something. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear from her again.”
Duckworth is an outspoken critic of the current war. She lost both legs in combat when the Blackhawk helicopter she was piloting was shot down in 2004.
Age Makes no Difference in the Senate
Sen. Daniel Akaka was reelected to a fourth term in a campaign that was initially all about age. During the primary campaign, Rep. Ed Case famously accused Akaka, 83, of being too old to be effective at the job. Akaka, in turn, narrowly defeated Case.
Akaka served in World War II in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before he was first elected to the House in 1976 representing Hawaii’s second congressional district. He won re-election six more times.
In 1990, Akaka was appointed by then Gov. John Waihee to the Senate to serve temporarily after the death of Sen. Spark Matsunaga.
Akaka, who told the Star Bulletin that ending the U.S. involvement in Iraq should be one of the first priorities when Congress convenes in January, is expected to move up in seniority along with Sen. Daniel K. Inouye — who will be third in seniority at the Senate.
Other APA House Winners
• Incumbent Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, wins another term against John Dendulk.
• Incumbent David Wu, D-Oregon, beat Derrick Kitts.
• Democratic Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott was re-elected without opposition in the 3rd District of Virginia. Scott is of Filipino descent.
And the Losers…
• Disgraced Republican Candidate Tan Nguyen lost his Orange County bid to Democratic incumbent Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Nguyen enraged voters and APAs last month when his campaign sent an intimidating letter to 14,000 Democratic voters with Spanish surnames.
• Minnesota Rep. John Kline emerged victorious over his challenger Coleen Rowley, but Kline may best be remembered as the boss of Mike Osskopp, an aide who was caught on tape in September yelling “Jap cars.”
• And “Macaca-gate” comes to a close with Virginia Republican George Allen’s concession Nov. 9 to his Democratic challenger Jim Webb. While campaigning in August, Allen drew the outrage of many community members by calling a young South Asian volunteer a “macaca,” which is a type of monkey.
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