Gwinnett County residents Neetu Kumar and Sujatha Thota volunteered at a recent phone banking event for supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris.
More Than a Margin of Victory
At a recent voter engagement event at a Donald Trump campaign office, Thuy Hotle told a room of Asian American Trump supporters that the 2020 election results show why every vote matters.
“We can do this,” said Hotle, who attended the training. “If you think about last time, the margin of victory was (about) 11,000 votes. There are that many of us.”
It’s a similar sentiment heard throughout the Asian American and Pacific Islander community — they are the “margin of victory.” But they are more powerful than that. There are nearly 239,000 registered voters in Georgia who identify as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. That’s about 20 times the margin by which President Joe Biden captured the state four years ago.
AAPI voters are one of Georgia’s fastest-growing voting blocs, and for one of the first times, grassroots organizers from both parties are making sure to focus on wooing them.
This photo essay, with words by Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Maya Prabhu, delves into the effort to engage Asian American voters before the 2024 election. Some of the photos are from 2020, when I first began this project.
Vijay Vemulapalli, a volunteer with South Asian mobilizing group They See Blue, waves an American flag at a rally in the metro-Atlanta area in support of Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock on Dec. 20, 2020. While AAPI voters skewed Democratic in the 2022 elections across the country, a higher proportion voted for Republicans that cycle than in 2018, according to exit polls.
Han Pham, executive director of Her Term and founder of Badass Asian Women, has periodically hosted postcard writing parties at her home to put a personal touch on campaign mailers, she said. Pham is aiming to send postcards in support of Vice President Kamala Harris to at least 20,000 voters, with many of them written in various Asian languages, such as the simplified Chinese being written by Denise See on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 pictured above.
Cam Ashling has been a political activist for years, bringing her donkey Hercules from her farm to several Democratic campaign events. Hercules is a fan favorite, seen here with Donna Wong at a "Dim Sum for Kamala" rally in Johns Creek in September.
Evidence of the country's growing Asian American and Pacific Islander voting bloc is the fact that South Asian Americans have made a mark near the top of the ticket this year. Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris’ mother is from India and father is a Black Jamaican. Republican nominee former President Donald Trump's running mate JD Vance's wife, Usha Vance, is also Indian American. Seanie Zappendorf (center) appears behind Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance at a rally in Lindale on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024.
Andy Mai, a field organizer with left-leaning organization Asian American Advocacy Fund, stands in front of a household displaying a sign wishing visitors a "Happy Diwali," while canvassing in Stone Mountain on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020.
While attending a grassroots training event, Thuy Hotle told her fellow AAPI Trump supporters that the 2020 election results show why every vote matters. "We can do this," Hotle said during the training in Lawrenceville on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. "If you think about last time, the margin of victory was (about) 11,000 votes. There are that many of us."
"The trend is that Trump is building a lead here in Georgia, but we expect Georgia to be very close - it's a competitive state," Georgia GOP Chairman Joshua McKoon said to Indian Americans and others during a grassroots training in Atlanta on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024.
Hercules has become a regular at Democratic campaign events, including a recent canvassing kickoff event hosted by AAPI Victory Fund Oct. 5. "It was a pavilion full of people and (Hercules) walks in there, not scared at all, and it was like a celebrity just came, the way they cheered for him," Hercules' owner Cam Ashling said.
Ngoc Trang was among the supporters for former President Donald Trump at a rally in Rome earlier this year. She was one of several Asian American voters at the rally who support the Republican nominee. Trump senior campaign advisor Steven Cheung said there is "no bigger advocate" for the AAPI community than the former president.
Korean Central Presbyterian Church of Atlanta head pastor the Rev. Byeong Han said while Asian Americans may not have historically been incredibly active politically, things changed after the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings that claimed eight lives, many of them women of Asian descent. Pastor Kevin Park (pictured above) delivers a sermon at Korean Central Presbyterian Church of Atlanta on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024.
Anthony Pacheco, civic engagement and organizing director with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said the organization has hosted 15-20 voter registration events at senior centers - many of them catering to Korean Americans at facilities such as Ebenezer Healthcare Services in Norcross. As a nonpartisan group, Pacheco said, the main purpose of the events is to share information. AAAJ has registered more than 600 voters this year.
Democratic activist Cam Ashling said the animals she takes to various campaign events allow people to blow off steam and reduce political anxiety in what will likely become a close presidential race. "I think that more people will get more organized, because Georgia is a red state, no matter what anyone wants to say," Ashling said. "To flip it is a lot of surgical precision in voter turnout."
Fun Fong held his hat over his heart during the national anthem at Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance’s rally in Lindale on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024.
Korean Central Presbyterian Church of Atlanta head pastor the Rev. Byeong Han said it's his job as a community leader to help create an informed electorate, such as Soonji Yang, who worshiped at the church on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. "I see my role as helping to foster informed and responsible citizenship," Han said. "In my church, we have encouraged the congregation to vote. The second-generation, young church members are volunteering to help the first generation by giving rides to the polls and (providing) translation service at their vote."
Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon told participants at an Indians for Trump event that the father of one of his childhood friends, who is of Indian descent, had immigrated from Kenya and became the first gastroenterologist in the Columbus area. "But you know what? He did it the legal way. He did it the right way," McKoon said. "He followed and respected the American laws on immigration. That's all we want. We're not saying no to immigrants. Immigrants built this country. We need legal immigration." Posters featuring Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Laken Riley, a nursing student killed in February, appear in a Republican campaign office on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. Riley, whose accused killer is undocumented, has been a focus of political discussion on immigration.
Yale Xiao, a volunteer from Fulton County, made calls to voters in Mandarin Chinese during a recent phone banking event supporting Vice President Kamala Harris. Andrew Peng, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander spokesman for the Harris campaign, accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of "inciting anti-Asian hate" through comments made during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(L-R) Un Kim and Byung Yoo play a board game at Ebenezer Healthcare Services, a Korean senior center in Norcross, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. They later attended the event hosted by nonpartisan organization Asian Americans Advancing Justice, which was at the center to register seniors to vote and help them update their registration. Joe Jo, director and owner of the senior center, said he knows the difficulties senior citizens may have with transportation or language barriers.
Stand Together AAPI is a way for Georgians from across the Asian diaspora to gather and celebrate culture, music, food and dancing, such as from the Laotian American Society (pictured above), said Georgia AAPI Hub founder Victoria Huynh, who served as a speaker at the Oct. 5 event. "I think I've seen a lot more engagement from candidates and other political folks come through our nonprofit events than before," she said. "Our community is rapidly growing here in Georgia. And the number of eligible voters are increasing just because there's more naturalized citizens. So we've definitely seen that engagement."