New York City is, and will continue to be a heavily Democratic city on election day.  In fact, most Republican opposition is token or irrelevant.  The election is far from over in the District 20 (Flushing), Queens.  After a contentious primary, Democrat nominee Yen Chou squeaked out a 183 vote win over nearest rival SJ Jung as well as several other candidates.  All in all, her votes accounted for only 25% of the total votes cast.  Now, in spite of the heavy Democratic advantage, Republican Peter Koo has a chance of uniting dissatisfied Democratic voters and small businesses to pull of a win in Flushing.

Peter Koo is no stranger to politics. He is a member of the community board and in 2008, ran for State Senator, but lost in a landslide to the incumbent.  However, the very wealthy Koo is also well known in the community as the owner of a chain of pharmacies and his involvement as chairman of the Business Improvement District as well as President of the Flushing Chinese Business Association.   The New York Daily News (a publication that I have probably never agreed with) ran an article on Peter Koo labeling him as the "Asian version of Bloomberg".

Although the Daily News asserted that the "Asian Bloomberg" label was a claim made by his "rivals", I am tempted to believe that this is more passive-aggressive negative campaigning on the part of the Daily News.  Mayor Bloomberg of course, has been stigmatized and charged with overextending the power of the mayor by supporting the repeal of term limits in New York City.  Applying the "Asian" label to his name also hints at racial politics and ethnic campaigning. 

How accurate are these claims though?  Republican/Independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ran on financial transparency, lower crime rates and education.  So is Peter Koo.  Both men are self made businessmen, with Koo first working menial jobs to pay for schooling and building his pharmacy chain one store at a time.  The mayor does not take salary from the city and Peter Koo has also promised to donate his entire $112,500 salary to community organizations in Flushing. The similarities end there.  Koo is not just another millionaire attempting to buy political office.  In fact, Chou has outspent Koo for this election.  My major quarrel with this article is that it ignores how deeply ingrained Peter Koo is to the Flushing community and its residents.  His website lists his various donations and associations to the community.  In fact, many old ladies in Flushing still carry canvas tote bags, donated by Peter Koo as part of an effort to reduce the use of plastic bags.

For most Flushing residents, Koo is a household name while Yen Chou is a relative unknown outside of her student's families and clients at her prep school.  Chou did not receive broad Democratic support until AFTER the primaries.  Chou was bolstered by a large turnout of Chinese voters who were encouraged to vote for John Liu for City Comptroller.  Most local politicians had already supported the campaigns of John Choe and SJ Jung so most of her current Democratic supporters at this point are merely toeing the party line rather than voicing support for her platform.  A platform which has been education-centric, but overwhelmingly vague.

Too be honest, I have never voted for a Republican, but in my experience, Peter Koo has always been supportive of efforts to beautify and enrich Flushing.  Maybe it's not be such a bad thing to have an "Asian Bloomberg" after all.  With many Democratic voters dissatisfied with Chou, Tuesday's election may include an upset.