It seems the Republican Party has found another high-profile Asian American recruit to go along with Van Tran in CA-47.  South Carolina State Representative Nikki Haley has just announced she'll be running for Governor of the Palmetto State. Not only that, but as the preferred candidate of Republican Governor Mark Sanford, who is being term-limited out, Haley will have a lot of muscle behind her candidacy.

As the number of high-profile African American and Latino Republican elected officials seems to be dwindling, (they are down to three Cuban Americans and zero African Americans in Congress and zero Latino or African American Governors), the Republican party has actually increased the number of Asian Americans from zero to two in Congress (Filipino American Steve Austria in Ohio and Vietnamese American Ahn Cao in Lousiana) and one Asian American Governor (Bobby Jindal in Louisiana) in the last two election cycles.

Of course, a political party so bereft of diversity as the Republican Party will have no problem trotting out these politicians, to prove they aren't just the party of white, Evangelical Christians who listen to Rush Limbaugh.  That's why it's important that the Democratic Party not take our community for granted. And while the AAPI community has been trending Democratic for the past every election cycle since 1980 and now vote overwhelming Democratic, the Democratic party must continue to outreach to our community and support AAPI's who run for office.

As for upcoming AAPI candidates in the Democratic Party, Board Equalization member Judy Chu is  running for Congress in California on May 19th.  (Okay, Judy's election is just a few days away so you knew I had to find a way to plug her!) So make sure you go out and support her. Otherwise, the most visible AAPI politicians could all have a stinking "R" by their names.