Asian American is California’s youngest legislator + New Elk Grove mayor: Your AAPI newsletter

It is Thursday, Nov. 12, and this is The Sacramento Bee’s AAPI weekly newsletter.

Here’s a recap of the stories I’ve covered and ones I’m following:

Alex Lee is just 25 years old, but he’s already won an Assembly seat representing District 25 encompassing San Jose, Fremont and Santa Clara.

The San Jose and Milpitas native, who is also the first openly bisexual legislator, joins the growing number of Asian Americans in California’s elected offices. Until recently, Lee was working part time for a delivery app while still campaigning full time. He lives with his parents in San Jose out of economic necessity.

“I just knew in my heart that I had the fire to do this and I knew I could do the job well,” Lee said.

After graduating from University of California, Davis, he went on to work at the district office of Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, and the Capitol office of state Sen. Henry Stern, D-Calabasas. Now, he wants to get more progressive voices like his into the state Capitol.

For many AAPI communities in San Jose, he said, he won’t have an outsider’s perspective. Many of his constituents’ struggles match his own lived experiences as a young, openly bisexual, progressive Asian American who had to join the gig economy during the pandemic to make ends meet.

Each community faces different issues, Lee said, and he knows each will have different needs and expectations because of this.

“Being Asian American in such a diverse community lets me see how strong the diversity makes us,” Lee said. “It’s not just … some talking point or tokenism. It’s a real, informed position.”

After mounting a swift campaign late this summer, Bobbie Singh-Allen will be the next mayor of Elk Grove and the first directly elected Sikh woman to hold the office in the nation.

Singh-Allen declared victory early Monday after receiving a call from Mayor Steve Ly who she defeated after a contentious race, winning 46% of votes cast as Sacramento County election officials continue counting.

Ly, who has held the office since 2016, garnered 34%, according to the most recent figures available, while a third candidate, Brian Pastor, received 18% of the votes. The window for a potential win for Ly did not expand late Friday when the results were last updated.

“I am truly humbled and honored by our victory. This win is not about me, it is about the well-being of Elk Grove,” Singh-Allen said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to being a champion for our city and bringing our community together. Whether you supported me or not, I invite you to work with me to move our city forward. From now on, everyone has a seat at the table.”

Singh-Allen launched her bid in late July after several people accused Ly of conscripting surrogates to attack political opponents and other critics in the community, including Singh-Allen. In another case, one of Ly’s campaign aides was accused of sexually harassing Jaclyn Moreno, then a candidate for the Cosumnes Community Services District board. In each case, Ly denied responsibility and vowed to be more responsive in the future.

The wave of accusations fueled Singh-Allen’s months-long campaign, allowing her to raise nearly as much money as Ly did in more than twice as much time. Her candidacy was also boosted by an endorsement from all corners of the community, perhaps a sign that the allegations caused Ly to fall out of favor.

“There is a lot of work in the months ahead,” she said. “I hope I can count on every single one of Elk Grove residents to get the job done together.”

In other news

• Chan Declares Victory In Tight District 1 Supervisors Race In San Francisco [CBS San Francisco]
• How Asian film is making moves to take over from Hollywood [BBC News]
• Pacific Islander community says more protections needed for seasonal workers [ABC News Australia]
• Asha Gomez made her name as an Indian American chef. But she’s tired of being pigeonholed. [The Washington Post]
• Sandra Oh Talks Early Career as Korean Canadian Actor in Exclusive Documentary Trailer [Variety]
• Adrian Tam defeats local Proud Boys leader, becomes only gay Asian American in Hawaii House [NBC News]
  
  
• Asian Americans voted for Biden 63% to 31%, but the reality is more complex [NBC News]
• Asian Americans are growing fastest in Nevada. Here’s how they voted. [NBC News]
• Report: Honolulu Police Use Of Force Increased Last Year [Honolulu Civil Beat]
• Opinion: Kamala the First? Breaking barriers — it’s complicated [The Boston Globe]

This week in AAPI pop culture

California Sen. Kamala Harris was declared as the vice president-elect Saturday, becoming the first woman, the first Black person and the first South Asian to hold the office. The takes exploring Harris’ mixed-race identity will keep pouring out over the coming days and weeks, but perhaps one of the best examinations of this comes straight from Harris herself.

Back in June, Los Angeles Times columnist Frank Shyong and entertainment reporter Jen Yamato spoke with Harris for their podcast “Asian Enough” about her mixed-raced Indian and Jamaican upbringing. Politicians and media outlets have sometimes struggled with how to talk about Harris’ identity, but as she explained it, being half Black and half Asian is a complexity she’s never had trouble wrapping her mind around.

“I didn’t go through some evolution about who am I and what is my identity,” Harris said on the podcast. “And I guess the frustration I have is if people think that I should have come through such a crisis and need to explain it. But I didn’t.”

Some critics have accused Harris of presenting a confused image of her racial identity. But as Harris put it, the pressure this criticism puts on her to “choose” between her Black and Asian identities is a “false choice,” one that says more about the limitations of American conceptions of race than about how she sees her own racial identity.

Listen to Harris explain what her experience growing up mixed-race Asian was like in her own words. And while you’re at it, I’d also strongly recommend the “Asian Enough” interviews with Weijia Jiang, Padma Lakshmi and Lulu Wang. (But they’re all great.)

Got a story suggestion? Please reach out to me at awong@sacbee.com.

That’s it for this week’s newsletter. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

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