A political evolution is underway in San Francisco. Only two decades ago,
A political evolution is underway in San Francisco. Only two decades ago, the city saw an Asian-American run for mayor for the first time, but this year six candidates are of Asian heritage.
One community leader told KTVU that in just the past week, many people in the Asian community have been asking for voter registration cards, suddenly excited about going to the ballot box in November.
The city’s Richmond District is often referred to as the second Chinatown. But the neighborhood is first when it comes to gauging mayoral races. As one political expert put it, however the Richmond votes in a mayor’s race, so goes the rest of the city.
Five of the current Asian-American mayoral candidates are also current office holders. They participated in Tuesday night’s mayoral forum at UCSF’s Mission Bay Conference Center.
The five are interim Mayor Ed Lee, State Senator Leland Yee, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, Assessor Phil Ting and public defender Jeff Adachi.
When asked the criteria she would look at to determine who she would support, San Francisco voter Rochelle Ignacio said she was still unsure.
“What they support and what they’re here for, but I honestly have not looked at any of them yet,” said Ignacio.
Twenty years ago, then supervisor Tom Hsieh was the first Asian-American to run for SF mayor. A great deal has changed since then.
San Francsico State Political Science Professor David Lee said one third of the city’s population is Asian Amercian. He explained that interest in the mayoral race in the Asian community jumped after Mayor Lee entered the race, followed by Adachi.
“We’ve gotten a community that for many, many years was seen as a sleeping dragon of sf politics,” said Lee.
Professor Lee predicts a record turnout among Asian voters in November. He said rank choice voting will help the Asian candidates, because voters won’t be limited to selecting just one.