Aurora's bloc party could swing CD6 election

AURORA | Adam You, who immigrated to Colorado 23 years ago from Taiwan, said this election season has been different from 2012.

“When I talk to the Republican party, someone calls me back,” he said. “The Republican party has surprised me. They’re way more responsive than I expected. The Democratic party does not have an office like that.”

The Sixth Congressional District resident from Englewood said this is one reason Republican incumbent Mike Coffman will have his vote come November.

Colorado Republicans have been particularly attuned to the Asian vote this election. Last September, the Republican National Committee hired Aurora Ogg to be the party’s Asian Coalition regional director in the state. Ogg, who is of Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese heritage, helps 6th Congressional District incumbent Coffman and other Colorado Republican candidates connect with the state’s Asian voters. She is not allowed to talk to the press about her role with the RNC, but Asian constituents in the district say she has made inroads for the party.

Highlands Ranch resident Kevin Leung said the focus on the economy at a recent political forum organized by Asian Roundtable Colorado for the state’s House and Senate candidates proved politicians were listening to Asian constituents. Leung, who immigrated to Colorado from Hong Kong, serves as a board member of Asian Roundtable Colorado and is also president of the state’s Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce.    

“Asians in this district are really concerned about jobs and the economy. Many Asian immigrants who are here are first generation,” he said. Leung explained that most Asians who move to Colorado from outside the country rely on work visas as a path to citizenship. “We come over here, and borrow money from our friends and family to open small businesses,” he said.

Even though Asians make up only six percent of the 6th Congressional District’s population, and likely only three percent of its electorate, Tony Robinson said their voting bloc matters. Robinson is the chair of the political science department at University of Colorado Denver.  That’s particularly true in the closely-tied 6th Congressional District that is evenly divided between Republican, Democrat, and unaffiliated voters. After white unaffiliated voters, Asian voters are the most likely to swing either Democrat or Republican, he said. 

“Asian voters don’t have the same powerful civil rights heritage identifying them as Democrat from the 1960s as blacks and Latino voters do. They are the more dislodgeable,  persuadable part of the Democratic coalition,” he said. “Asians tend to vote 65 percent Democrat, but black voters lean 90 percent Democrat, and Latinos lean about 70 percent Democrat.”

What Asian voters do have that has kept them voting for Democrats, according to Robinson, is a history as working class immigrants. Robinson said though Asians tend to be business owners more often than blacks and Latinos, they are still climbing the economic ladder, and have likely identified more with the Democratic party in past elections because of its broad support for social welfare programs.

“Another reason goes to the deep cultural tradition of the Republican party associating itself with traditional heartland America, which is the white Anglo-Saxon protestant voter,” Robinson said. “The Democratic party has always been the party of transformation, opening its arms to new immigrant groups.”

According to the 2010 Census, Aurora, which makes up the majority of the hotly-contested Sixth Congressional District, is home to more than 16,000 people who identify as Asian. The largest single segment of that population is the city’s Korean population, which stands at 3,459, according to the census. The city is also home to more than 1,700 Chinese residents, almost 2,000 Filipino residents and more than 2,747 Vietnamese. The city is also a center of the state’s Asian population, with more than 10 percent of Colorado’s 139,000 residents living in Aurora.

Though Coffman’s Democratic challenger Andrew Romanoff may not have an official Asian field organizer through the Democratic National Committee, he has an Asian American advisory committee. Harry Budisidharta, a Denver-based lawyer who works closely with Aurora’s Asian Pacific Development Center, is one of the committee’s volunteers.

“There is definitely a counter movement from Democratic side,” he said. “Both parties are actively mobilizing our base to vote.”

Jennifer Kim is the chairwoman of the National Unification Advisory Council’s Denver chapter, and lives in Aurora. Kim, who is Korean, said she identifies with Coffman based on his family values as well as his familiarity with Asian culture. Coffman’s father was a Korean War veteran and his mother grew up in Shanghai.

“I believe he is one of the genuine candidates that’s leading our community,” she said.

During his speech at the Asian Roundtable forum, Coffman said he worked with multiple Asian advisory groups to better understand how he could improve visa programs in the U.S. He talked about expanding the H-1 visa program that allows students working in science, technology, engineering and math, to remain in the country. He also talked about legislation he introduced earlier this year that aims to make it easier for foreign investors to travel between the U.S. and their home countries.

Kim said that improving visa programs is the major immigration issue for Asians in the district. She said the omnibus immigration package that passed out of the U.S. Senate last year is more geared toward helping undocumented immigrants who have come to the country. 

“What the Senate bill is talking about is the border issues, and that’s something not affecting Asians,” she said.