Ron Kim (left) and SJ Jung (right).

This past Tuesday, the New York Times profiled the New York City Council District 20 election in the article, "Korean New Yorkers Hope for Council Seat in Queens, Their First". This is the office that is currently held by New York City Council Member John C. Liu, who is running for NYC Comptroller.  In 2001, Council Member Liu made history as the first Asian American elected official in New York City history.

Since then, there have been successive firsts for the Asian American political growth within New York City with all of it occurring in the Flushing, Queens, area. In 2002, an Asian American population centered State Assembly district was created. In 2004, Jimmy Meng surprised many political observers when he beat an incumbent in the Democratic primary and became the first Asian American in the state legislature. In 2006, Ellen Young, a former top aide to City Council Member John Liu, became the first Asian American woman to serve in Albany following Meng's decision against running for re-election. In 2008, we saw the first U.S. born Asian American elected when former Assembly Member Meng's daughter Grace Meng captured the New York State Assembly seat after a tough Democratic Primary against Ms. Young.

With the history lesson of Asian American politics of New York City still being told, there are a group of Korean Americans now vying for Mr. Liu's City Council seat in addition to people of Chinese, Greek, and a Sephardic Jewish heritage are also candidates. For comparison purposes where Boston Councilor Sam Yoon is running for Mayor, 4% of the city's population is APA, at about 223,424. In Flushing, where the district's population is about 160,000, more than 35% (in 2000) of the district's population is APA at about 56,000. Since 2000, the APA population percentage has grown to almost 50% as the New York Times/ Queens College census analysis has shown.

NY State Assembly Member Grace Meng mentioned of the area's changing political power and demographic. She stated, "It's a sign of a growing and maturing political community." In addition to John Liu's citywide efforts within New York City and Sam Yoon's in Boston, it has been rare to identify significant elections of APA's.  In 2005, the election of Jun Choi as Mayor of Edison, New Jersey, was also seen as a milestone of Asian American political leadership in the Northeast.  With that said, we turn towards the September 2009 Democratic Primary Election as a key date.  With the base of the vote expected to come out strong for Council Member Liu for Comptroller, the votes will certainly be tougher in a campaign between so many candidates in the Northeast Queens City Council District.

At the heart of the maturing base of the candidates are Korean Americans mentioned by the NY Times article. They include S. J. Jung, a community organizer, and Ronald Kim, the New York State Governor's regional representative for Queens. A third, Mr. Liu's Chief of Staff, said he might also jump into the fray, and there has been talk of still many others. There are so many progressive issues that include economic development, transportation, education, and quality of life at stake that will come up in debate over the course of the campaign.

In Lower Manhattan, another Korean American, PJ Kim, has declared his candidacy for the City Council District 1, which includes Chinatown. Just as in Flushing, the maturity of its residents to support leadership will be watched as the drive towards the September Democratic Primary Election. In this district, candidates include the incumbent New York City Council Member Alan Gerson, and Asian Americans For Equality Deputy Executive Director, Margaret Chin.

Stay tuned for more information with the New York City elections as they continue to develop. As a friend of the former NYC Chapter leader and board member for Asian Pacific Americans for Progress, Ronald Kim, I hope to bring up more of the community's take of these local elections.