Asian Fortune Your source for all things Asian American
By Jennie L. Ilustre
Three Americans of Asian descent are poised to make history in mayor’s races in the November elections.
Community leaders, the media and surveys all foresee their victories in the nation’s three major cities. What’s also impressive? Two of the cities, Boston and Cincinnati, do not even have Asian majority population.
The three candidates, Politico reported, are Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu, a daughter of Taiwanese immigrants; Cincinnati, Ohio Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval, who has Tibetan and Indian parents, and former Seattle City Council member Bruce Harrell, who has Black and Japanese parents.
All of them are Democrats. All three frontrunners have been in public office for several years, Politico noted, and are already well-known in their communities.
First in 200 Years
One of them, Council Member Wu, is also on track to make history on another front.
“This would be the first time in 200 years that a woman of color would be elected as mayor of Boston,” Madalene Xuan-Trang Mielke, president & CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS), said after the September primary.
Wu faces Annissa Essaibi George, an at-large member of the Boston City Council, and whose father came to the U.S. from Tunisia.
Wu’s victory in the November 2 elections is all but assured, according to the media. Boston resident Paul W. Lee, former National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) president, noted that in the primary, Wu won “over 33% of the vote in a five-person race, a margin of more than 10% over her nearest opponent” (Essaibi George).
Lee also cited Wu’s consistent lead in early polls, her solid legislative achievements, her broad coalitions and her key endorsements.
Local Opportunities
Asked if this new development among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) candidates is a trend, AAPI Victory Fund President Varun Nikore said in an email: “Traditionally, fewer folks had run for local office as many sought the limelight of seeking federal positions first. As our community becomes more aware and sophisticated about civic engagement, many are seeing opportunities that they may not have considered before.”
“All this is a great development for the AAPI community,” he stressed.
He noted: “I believe that our community looking at public service as a career now sees new pathways for achieving its goals. During the Trump years, more Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders than ever before became engaged in the political process. “
“Largely, we self-organized and became smarter about how we serve our local, state and national communities,” he said. “Additionally, the rise of hate and Trumpism gave birth to the new-found AAPI movement that we are seeing today.”
“Michelle Wu, Aftab Pureval, and Bruce Harrell have broken barriers,” APAICS President & CEO Mielke said in a recent email.
“They have advanced to the general election as frontrunner candidates,” she added. “And by stepping up to the plate, they are showing our community that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) can and are able to run and win in regions that may not be majority-Asian.”
Asians make up less than 10 percent in Boston and about 2 percent in Cincinnati, according to Politico. But Seattle, it noted, has an AAPI population of more than 15 percent.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are still underrepresented in the political field, Politico noted, citing Reflective Democracy Campaign figures. As of 2020, just around 2 percent of elected city officials were AAPIs. At 22 million, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up 6% of the nation’s population, according to Pew data.
Boston’s Wu
Councilor Wu said the election “is about a choice for our future…a choice about whether City Hall tackles our biggest challenges with bold solutions or we nibble around the edges of the status quo.”
Asian American leader and Boston resident Lee notes “her bold and visionary work in many critical areas such as affordable housing, anti-displacement, economic development, and fair city contracting for minority-owned businesses.”
Wu was first elected to the Boston City Council in November 2013 at age 28. She is the first Asian American woman to serve on the Council. In January 2016, she was elected President of the City Council by her colleagues in a unanimous vote, becoming the first woman of color to serve as Council President.
Councilor Wu was the lead sponsor of Boston’s Paid Parental Leave ordinance and Healthcare Equity ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity. Both passed unanimously through the Council and were signed into law by former Mayor Martin J. Walsh.
Wu also authored Boston’s Communications Access ordinance, which guarantees translation, interpretation and assistive technology for access to city services regardless of English language proficiency or communications disability.
Wu graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish, and lives in Roslindale with her husband Conor and her sons Blaise and Cass.
Ohio’s Pureval
Pureval was the first Democrat elected as Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in over 100 years. The Cincinnati Enquirer said “Aftab Pureval’s leadership is making a big difference” for the people of Hamilton County. Pureval has brought modern and professional reforms to the Clerk’s office. He is the first county officeholder in Ohio to offer comprehensive paid family leave.
His website notes that as Clerk of Courts, Pureval has also made access to justice a priority by launching a Help Center to assist people who are representing themselves with legal resources so more people can utilize our courts. Below are more data from his website.
By ending nepotism, cutting waste, and making the office more professional, Aftab has saved taxpayers millions of dollars. For his efforts, Aftab has received bi-partisan praise and support.
Before becoming Clerk of Courts, Aftab worked at P&G as the global brand attorney for Olay. He has also been active in the community, becoming the first man to serve on the board of the Women’s Fund.
He has been awarded the NAACP Theodore Berry Award for Service and been recognized by the Business Courier as one of their 40 under 40.
Aftab lives in Clifton with his wife Whitney, a doctor who treats COVID patients, and their one-year old son, Bodhi.
Seattle’s Harrell
Former Seattle City Council member Harrell won 40 percent of the top-two primary vote against a two-time former mayor.
Politico reported he and fellow Democrat Lorena González are locked in a tight race.
On October 23, Harrell’s campaign reported that over three dozen leaders in Seattle’s Black community sent a letter to Council President Gonzalez, demanding that she cease airing a commercial, noting that the “false and incendiary ad uses dangerous anti-Black stereotypes.”
Harrell has said of his candidacy: “In a moment of racial reckoning, a housing and homelessness crisis, and pandemic-driven economic downturn, we need a mayor with the experience and skills to unite our city, heal divisions and restore confidence in who we are and what we can accomplish together.”
Below is his biography from his website.
A lifelong Seattle resident, Bruce graduated valedictorian from Garfield High School and received a football scholarship to the University of Washington. At UW, Bruce was a 1978 Rose Bowl champion and received the Most Valuable Defensive Player Award. He went to law school and worked in technology and telecommunications. Later, he represented working people who faced workplace discrimination.
In 2007, Bruce ran for city council, where he became known for his fierce advocacy for police accountability – before it was popular. He also worked with service providers, non-profit housing leaders and the business community to dramatically expand affordable housing in Seattle and invest in shelter and services. He was re-elected twice citywide.
After retiring from the council in 2019, Bruce returned to private practice and, in 2020, was asked to lead the COVID-19 Small Business Recovery Task Force, working with business owners and community leaders to support small businesses and their workers.
