By Randall Yip, Executive Editor

Democratic members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus are maintaining a stiff upper lip and poised to fight following the defeat of Kamala Harris for president. 

During appearances at two recent community forums, U.S. Senate-elect Andy Kim (D-NJ), Representative-elect Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) expressed their resolve to fight and push forward.

“I know we have some difficult times ahead,” said Senator-elect Kim during a recent virtual briefing with supporters of Stop AAPI Hate. “I feel proud that I can step up and now be a voice in the room and have a seat at the table in the U.S. Senate.”

Kim is the first Korean American elected to the U.S. Senate. He will join Representative-elect Subramanyam as the two Asian Americans who broke new ground in the November election.

He is the first Indian American ever elected to Congress from the state of Virginia.

“I’m just excited about our election result, said Subramanyman, but very sad for our democracy.” He spoke at another virtual gathering of volunteers and supporters of Indian American Impact, an advocacy group dedicated to advancing more Indian Americans into elected office.

“The way forward is to call out all the bad things that happen for what they are, and to just fight back. And we’ve seen it happen before. We every time we’re down, we bounce back,

Rep Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) joined Subramanyman at the Indian American Impact gathering. 

She pointed to the election of Subramanyman as something to be proud of, as is the victories of Renuka Mayadev, the first South Asian in the Wisconsin State House; Hanadi Nadeem who is joining the Nevada State House; Darshana Patel who won in the California State Assembly; and Danny Avula, who will be the first South Asian American mayor of Richmond, VA.

“Know I have confidence that we will come together again and be ready to do the work ahead, because that is what we do,” said Jayapal. “We know that big fights can’t be fought only when we win or only when it’s convenient. We know that strength emerges in these times of crisis.”

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