Asian-Americans won three City Council races on primary day Tuesday illustrating the influence of the fastest-growing minority group in New York City.
For the first time, Chinatown could be represented by an Asian-American, Margaret Chin. Chin defeated two-term incumbent Alan Gerson with 39 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary for the 1st Council District seat.
“Chinatown has been around for over 150 years,” Chin told the New York Times. “For the first time it’s a Chinese-American representing the area.”
Chin, who immigrated to the district from Hong Kong as a child, faces a Republican opponent in the general election and is favored to win.
Districts where Asian-Americans won had higher turnouts at 17 and 18 percent than the rest of the city.
City comptroller candidate John C. Liu garnered 38 percent of the vote in Democratic primary Tuesday. He'll face David Yassky in a runoff election Sept. 29 to decide who will be on the Democratic ticket against Republican Joseph A. Mendola in the November general election.
In 2002, Liu became the first Asian-American to be elected into the council, opening the door for others in the community to hold public office.
“It’s significant for the whole population to see all these Asian-Americans taking political roles for the first in public,” said Hunter College sociologist Margaret M. Chin, (no relation to Margaret S. Chin) in an interview with the Times.
“The West Coast broke this barrier close to two decades ago.”
Other primary winners included Yen S. Chou and Kevin D. Kim in Queens.
In addition to the high voter turnout, the Asian-American community also donated generously, ensuring that Chou and Kim were among the top five funded candidates in the race. Both candidates opted out of the public fundraising option, with Chou raising $320,551 and Kim bringing in $288,756, according to the Times.
