San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
S.F. Asian political strength shifts
In 2021, I went to a party hosted by the Edwin M. Lee Democratic Club for San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu after he was sworn into office. I remember marveling at being in a room with so many people working in politics and government who were breaking barriers in a field where Asian Americans are a rarity in most places around the country.
Chinese American Chiu is San Francisco’s first Asian American city attorney. It wasn’t that long ago that Chinese American Ed Lee became San Francisco’s first Asian American mayor, as many as five Asian Americans held Board of Supervisors seats, and Chinese Americans represented the city in the Assembly and the state Senate.
But one could argue that this run of electoral success is waning for Chinese American politicians in San Francisco.
Supervisor Catherine Stefani’s win over David Lee in Tuesday’s primary for Assembly’s 19th District, where about 40% of the population is Asian American, primarily Chinese American, makes her the favorite in November’s general election rematch.
Stefani would be the first non-Chinese American since 2002 to hold the seat representing San Francisco’s west side and a portion of northern San Mateo County.
Supervisor Connie Chan is now the lone Chinese American on the Board of Supervisors and faces a potentially tough race in November’s election to keep her seat representing District 1 in the Richmond. Several Chinese American newcomers to elected politics are also running for supervisor. Among them are Sharon Lai, a former Municipal Transportation Agency board member, in District Three, and Chyanne Chen, a community and labor union organizer, in District 11.
All face uphill battles. If none are elected, there will be no Chinese Americans from San Francisco in the state Legislature or on the Board of Supervisors for the first time since 1993.
Assembly Member Phil Ting, who is termed out of the 19th District seat after 2024, told me it’s a challenge to get Asian Americans interested in running for office in today’s hyper-partisan political environment.
“Younger folks look at it and don’t see it as something that they want to be a part of,” Ting said. “They don’t want to deal with all the bullying and the toxicity on social media.”
(Full disclosure: My wife went to graduate school with Chiu and Ting, and she has volunteered for their election campaigns.)
Lee, who has never held elected office, was recruited by Ting to enter the race after more experienced potential Chinese American and Asian American candidates declined to run for the open seat.
“In the old days, people would kill each other for the chance to run, right?” said David Ho, a political consultant working on Lee’s campaign. “We can’t get anyone to even, like, say, hey, ‘I’ll raise my hand.’ ”
Identity politics doesn’t play like it used to (see Gordon Mar’s 2022 loss in the Sunset’s supervisorial district). That’s certainly what Lee is banking on, though Stefani received 55% of the votes in Tuesday’s primary.
If Stefani wins, the district will get a smart, experienced and earnest legislator. (The Chronicle editorial board, of which I am a member, endorsed her.) What would be missing is representation of the lived experience of those 40% of constituents.
Why does this matter? “When you don’t have representation, you have quite often, poor policymaking,” said Ting, who has endorsed Lee.
As an example, Ting cited legislation for more than $165 million in funding for programs to combat anti-Asian hate that spiked during the pandemic when other states were slower to react.
“I know for a fact it would not have happened if I wasn’t (Assembly) budget chair,”
Ting said. “If someone else was budget chair, I don’t think they would have championed the community.”
So how do you get more Chinese American and Asian Americans to enter politics in San Francisco?
Ting said there needs to be more political groups and training programs to support potential candidates.
“You need organizations to train. You need organizations to mentor,” he said. “I mean, if you look at the LGBT community, in a very short time, they built a much stronger pipeline.”
Outside of the race to replace Ting, however, the cupboard is not bare.
In the election for the obscure but powerful San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, the latest results show Chinese American candidates could fill nearly half the seats for a position that is often a step to higher office. Progressives took a hit in Tuesday’s election, and accordingly, most of the Chinese Americans in line for DCCC spots are moderates.
This swing toward the political center in the city doesn’t bode well for Chinese American progressives like Lai, Chen and Chan in their supervisor races. But Asian Americans will have representation on the Board of Supervisors if moderates Marjan Philhour, who is Filipino and Iranian American, tops Chan in District One and Pakistani American Bilal Mahmood prevails in District Five. Philhour and Mahmood are also set to take seats on the DCCC.
Ting is right when he says representation matters.
While that room from 2021 might be emptier for a party in 2024, it needs to be full again. Chinese Americans and Asian Americans need to have a voice in government so it doesn’t take a pandemic and a mass shooting in Atlanta for something like anti-Asian hate to be taken seriously.