Asian American Candidates in Recent New York Elections - Research Paper Example

Introduction: In Mr. John Chun Liu and Mr. Tony Avella contested for a senatorial position through their democratic party. This was a very tight election, which Mr. Avella won by a slight margin of 52% when compared to the votes garnered by Mr. Liu, which was 48% (Kuhner, 15). This election primary caught the attention of the media, because it was a contest between an Asian-American man, and a white person. The major support base of Mr. Liu lied on the Queens’s way democrats, and people of his Asian origin. In fact, most of his election funding came from Chinese and Asian Business men operating in New York (Kuhner, 26). On the other hand, the support of Mr. Avella, lay on his traditional support base, which had a higher number of voters, compared to the areas where Mr. Liu got most of his support. In fact, this is one of the reasons attributed to the success of Mr. Avella in this primary election (Kuhner, 26). This paper is an analysis of this contest between Mr. Avella and Mr. Liu. It provides an analysis on whether race played an important role in determining the results of the elections. In meeting the objectives of this paper, the researcher will look into the demographic location, of the voters, who did vote for Mr. Liu and Mr. A vella. This is for purposes of identifying whether they managed to get many voters from people of their races. Furthermore, this paper will look into the personality of the two candidates, the issues they stood for, and any financial or social scandals that could affect the results of the elections. Background Information: John Chun Liu was born in the year 1967, in Taiwan. At the age of five years, John Chun Liu, together with his parents migrated to United States, and they lived in the city of New York (Sutherland, 14). He was enrolled in the public schools governed and managed by the State Government. In the year 1985, Mr. Liu attended Binghamton University, and he did a course in mathematical physics. Mr John Chun Liu was elected to the council in the year 2001, to represent the region of Northeast Queens (Cheng, 19). Tony Avella was born in the year 1951, and he is currently a Democratic State Senator. He comes from the 11th Senate district of New York. Tony Avella served as a member of the city council of New York, between the periods of 2002, to the periods of 2009 (Sutherland, 15). In 2014, Tony Avella and John Liu contested for a democratic nomination for the state senatorial seat of State Senate District II (Cheng, 22). There were no republicans seeking this seat. Methodology: Mr. Avella and Mr. Liu were contesting to be representatives of District II, at the senate. There were a variety of issues that greatly affected the outcome of this election. One of the major issues that came into question was the personality of Mr. Liu. Mr. Avella was able to depict Mr. Liu as a corrupt individual, who cannot be trusted in an electoral office. This was a very strong campaigning platform that Mr. Avella used, as campaign propaganda. This is because voters normally value a person of high integrity and morality. This is the kind of an individual that can win an election easily. Babayan (17) explains that by attacking the integrity of Mr. Liu, Mr. Avella was able to influence the results of the elections, by getting the votes of people who had not yet decided on where they would cast their votes. This is referred to as swing votes, and in a tightly contested elections, they play a significant role in determining who wins an election. Some of the accusations leveled against Mr. Liu, touched on his activities, when he served as the Comptroller of New York City. For example, one of the criticisms, leveled against Mr. Liu, was based on the fact that he owed the city of New York, some 500,000 dollars in fines (Kuhner, 22). This is in respect to hanging campaign posters, during the time when he was running for the seat of the New York City Comptroller (Meriwether, 7). These campaign posters were illegally placed. Furthermore, two of the campaign workers of Mr. John Liu were convicted in 2013, for purposes of illegally funneling campaign money, through straw donors (Babayan, 22). An investigation into this scandal was able to find some irregularities on the sources of funding, for Mr. Liu, and this included undisclosed funding. Investigators were able to trace and identify the 100 households that donated for Mr. Liu. 24 irregularities were found, and this includes donations from people who claimed that they did not donate. However, their employers claimed that they donated this money on behalf of their employees (Cheng, 20). Most of the irregularities found in the campaign money donated to Mr. Liu were connected to the business people of Asian origin. On a specific note, the money was connected to the Chinese business personalities (Babayan, 21). This therefore brings us to the race question in this election. Race as a factor is being depicted in this election, because the source of funding used by Mr. Liu was coming from the Asian business personalities and households (Meriwether, 5). Babayan (26) explains that funding plays a significant role in determining the success or failure of a candidate to achieve a political position. This best applies in the American elections, where the sources of funds and the amount of campaign money an individual has, is closely monitored, analyzed and audited. Mr. Liu was able to raise thousands of dollars, from American Chinese Business men, who also formed majority of his support base in the region of Queens. On the other hand, Mr. Avella was able to get majority of his campaign funds from the American-Italian people. This is because he was an American citizen, of Italian origin. Furthermore, Mr. Avella was the founder of the Italian caucas of American citizens in New York. This was a powerful lobby group in New York, which was concerned of catering for the interests of American citizens, of Italian origin (Babayan, 13). It is through this organization that Mr. Avella was able to raise his campaign funds, and get the necessary connections that would enable him raise some funds, to help in financing his campaigns. By looking at these facts, it is possible to denote that the two people were able to raise majority of their funds, from two different races (Volk, 19). The Asians, particularly the Chinese, were responsible for funding Mr. Liu, and the Caucasians, particularly the Italians, on the part of Mr. Avella. Through this analysis, it is important to explain that race played a role in shaping the electoral results, and this is mainly because race was used as a mechanism of raising funds, to finance the candidates under consideration (Cheng, 31). Furthermore, it is possible to depict how race influenced this election, through the demographic of the voters. First, it is important to analyze the demographics of the Queens, in New York City. As of the year 2013, the percentage of Asians stood at 25.2%, when compared to 49.7% of the whites. Other minority groups such as the Hispanics and the African Americans stood at 25.1 of the total number of the population. When closely analyzing the elections results of this region, we find that Mr. Avella was able to garner 52%, when compared to Mr. Liu who was able to get 48% of the votes. By analyzing these results, it is easy to denote that all the whites voted for Mr. Avella, while all the Asians and minority groups voted for Mr. Liu. However, making such a conclusion at this stage is not conducive, before analyzing the specific locations that the two leaders managed to get their votes. For example, the major support base of Mr. Avella was in the 26th district. This included the neighborhoods of Bayside, Little Neck, Whitestone, Bay Terrace, etc. Under this region, Mr. Avella was able to lead Mr. Liu by over 1000 votes (Volk, 19). This is a huge number of votes, considering the fact that Mr. Avella won the elections by a margin of approximately 568 votes (Cheney and Josefa, 3). Furthermore, this was a district that was represented by Ed Braunstein, a congressman who was a firm supporter of Mr. Liu. This is an indication that on the ground, Mr. Avella was very popular, and the democratic leaders were unable to influence their voters, to vote for Mr. Liu. This is a district that has a total population of 715, 554. In this district, the percentage of the white population stood at, 72% of the total population. This was represented by approximately 517, 616, people (US Census). On the other hand, the percentage of the Asian people in this region stood at 3%. The number of Asian people living in this district was estimated to be 23, 485 people (US Census). It is important to explain that the main racial group in this region was the whites, and it is this district which determined whoever won the primaries. It was very difficult for Mr. Liu to reduce the 1000 gap margin that Mr. Avella was enjoying from this district. Another support base of Mr. Avella was on district 27 (Cheney and Josefa, 3). This district also had a very large population of white people. The total population of this district stood at 714, 816 people. Of these people, the total number of the white citizens was 669, 326 people (US Census). This formed 93% of the total population of the district. On the other hand, the total population of the Asian people was 8,669 people. This formed 1.2% of the total population (US Census). Mr. Avella was able to garner the majority votes in this district, therefore getting an advantage over Mr. Liu. Through this analysis, it is important to explain that political issues did not play a role in determining the results of elections in these two districts (Cheney and Josefa, 3). Voters were motivated by race, in making a decision on whether to vote for Mr. Liu or Mr. Avella. Mr. Avella got the advantage, because of his white color. Furthermore, it is important to understand that it is only in these two districts that Mr. Avella won, and they constituted 46% of the total votes cast, in the primaries (Babayan, 27). However, it is important to understand that there were some districts that were not motivated by race, in voting. A good example is district 25, where Mr. Liu was able to get most of his support and votes. District 25 had a total population of 725, 587 people. Out of this population, the white people were approximately 549, 531 people, while the Asians were 26, 514 people (US Census). Race as a factor did not play out in the politics of this district, because majority of the white people, were able to vote for Mr. Liu. This is irrespective of his racial background. One of the major factors, that guided the voters in this region, was whether an individual was democratic or not democratic enough. One of the campaign issues that Mr. Liu was using against Mr. Avella was based on the fact that he had rebelled against the party position, in the senate (Cheney and Josefa, 7). Based on this fact, Mr. Avella was not loyal to the democrats, and hence, he was not a democrat. This therefore means that Mr. Avella was thee sitting senator, and there was a need of removing him from this position, because he was not advancing the interests of the party that sponsored him to the senate (Volk, 19). In politics, collaboration with rival parties is an indication that an individual is not faithful, and loyal to the party. However, in his defense, Mr. Avella noted that he was doing so for purposes of promoting education, and raising funds, to support the education system within New York. He gave an example, whereby he managed to raise approximately 300,000 dollars, for purposes of financing the North Flushing Center. This is an institution responsible for providing academic training to the students who are in New York (Tilly, 33). Mr. Avella was therefore saying that through his collaboration with the Republicans, he was able to improve the educational industry in New York (Lovett, 7). This is a key factor for the economic growth of the state of New York. However, he did not manage to convince the voters of other districts, apart from district 26 and 27 that he was collaborating with the Republicans, for purposes of improving the social sector in New York (Cheng, 24). Furthermore, Joseph Crowley played a significant role in the election campaigns of Mr. Liu. Mr. Crowley was the chairman of the Queens Democratic association, and they played a great role in voting in Mr. Avella, before his defection to the Republicans (Babayan, 31). However, once he defected, he was unable to rally the support of the democrats in favor of Mr. Avella. This is specifically in districts 26 and 27. Furthermore, race as a factor in this elections is seen, when the trade unions failed to convince their members to vote for Mr. Liu, because he stood on issues that positively affected the welfare of workers (Cheng, 29). These issues include better wages and remuneration, good working conditions, good social amenities, etc. The DC 37, the largest Union of Employees in New York was able to endorse the candidacy of John Liu. The major reason for this endorsement was on the belief and attitudes of John Liu, regarding families, and issues that affect the public service employees (Babayan, 27). The executive director of the Union believed that John Liu was a strong supporter, and a true friend of working families, because he supported policies aimed at making workers to be comfortable. This means that in making their decision, DC 37 was not motivated by race, but by the issues and values that John Liu stood for. However, the members of this union failed to vote for Mr. Liu, despite standing on issues that positively affect them (Babayan, 31). This is because, had the members of this union voted for Mr. Liu, then chances are high that he could have won the primaries. This is because the Union has a very large support base, comprising of over 130,000 employees. Mr. Avella on the other hand, won the primaries with a low margin of 582 votes. It was possible to reduce this margin, had Mr. Liu managed to get all the votes from the members of this trade union. Conclusion: In conclusion, race played an important role in determining the outcome of this election. First, race emanates on the sources of funding, for Mr. Liu and Mr. Avella. Most of the financiers of Mr. Liu were Chinese business personalities found in New York. On the other hand, most of the financiers of Mr. Avella were Italian personalities and business men, who were members of the Italian Caucus in New York. Furthermore, by analyzing the demographics opf voters, it is possible to denote that Mr. Avella got the highest number of votes, in regions that had most white people. This is in district 26, and 27. On the other hand, Mr. Liu used the support of Mr. Crowley to get the votes of other regions. It is important to understand that the votes emanating from district 26 and 27 formed 46% of the total votes cast in the primaries, and this made Mr. Avella to win, but with a slight margin. Works Cited: Babayan, N. (2014). European Union and United States Democracy Promotion EU, US, and Russia in the South Caucasus. Routledge. Cheney, Brendan, and Josefa Velasquez. "Mapping a Victory Pattern in the Avella District | Capital New York." Mapping a Victory Pattern in the Avella District | Capital New York. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. . Top of Form Bottom of Form Cheng, C. (2014). Citizens of Asian America democracy and race during the Cold War. New York: New York University Press. Top of Form Bottom of Form Kuhner, T. (2014). Capitalism v. democracy: Money in politics and the free market constitution. New York: Macmillan. Lovett, Kenneth. "Queens Pol Joins Albany Rebel Democrats." NY Daily News. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. . Meriwether, Kristen. "John Liu Scandal: John Liu May Lose $3 Million Over Campaign Fraud." The Epoch Times John Liu Campaign May Lose 3 Million Over Fraud Comments. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. . Sutherland, Adam. Political Leaders. New York: PowerKids, 2012. Print. Tilly, Charles. Democracy. Cambridge [England: Cambridge UP, 2007. Print. US CENSUS. (n.d.). My Congrssional District. Retrieved December 15, 2014, from http://www.census.gov/fastfacts/ Top of Form Bottom of Form Volk, K. (2014). Moral minorities and the making of American democracy. Washington: Nelson Thornes. Read More