CA: L.A. on the Record: Asian Americans and the L.A. vote
In Los Angeles politics, 2022 was a historic year for Asian Americans.
Kenneth Mejia became the first Asian American to win a citywide office when he triumphed in the city controllers race.
But a report released this week by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center argues that Asian Americans, now the third-largest racial group in the city, still lack representation.
The report, called Asian American, Latino, Black and White Voters in Los Angeles City Elections: Racial Diversity and Representation in 2020 and 2022, identifies three major issues with Asian American voters.
Not enough Asian Americans are running for office in L.A., with only 13 of 193 candidates for City Council between 2011 and 2022 identifying as Asian American, the report said.
Also, voter registration rates in the community remain low at under 50% across most of the city, and there is no city council district where Asian Americans make up a majority or even plurality.
Asian American voters do often vote as a bloc in support of Asian American candidates but at the same time, they are often not a large enough group of voters to sway the outcome of an election in Los Angeles, Natalie Masuoka, an associate professor of political science and Asian American studies at UCLA, and Nathan Chan, a Loyola Marymount assistant professor of political science, wrote in their report.
https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2023-06-03/la-on-the-record-newsletter-asian-americans-vote-l-a-on-the-record