Over 140 Prominent Asian Americans And Pacific Islanders Endorse Elizabeth Warren

Over 140 Prominent Asian Americans And Pacific Islanders Endorse Elizabeth Warren

More than 140 leaders from the Asian American and Pacific Islander community have endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for president, the group announced Thursday in a blog post on Medium.

In their endorsement, first reported by NBC News’ Kimmy Yam, AAPIs With Warren ― which includes actor Constance Wu, author Celeste Ng and former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao ― praised Warren as a strong leader on issues of immigration, education and health care.

“Openness, connection, a sense of purpose combined with humility — these are what America desperately needs today,” the group wrote. “This is what we, as Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders in our own communities, aspire to bring into being. And we believe that Elizabeth Warren is the leader who can help make it a reality at the grassroots and at the highest level.”

The professionals, creators, activists and others said they were inspired to come together to support Warren after she received an endorsement in November from 100 Black Womxn For Elizabeth Warren, a collective of Black artists, activists and political strategists.

In their blog post, the new group applauded Warren’s commitment to diversity, noting that her campaign has over 100 AAPI staff in key positions and that about 40% of its full-time staff are people of color.

“It’s impossible for any candidate to individually encompass all the facets of our diverse and vibrant society,” they wrote. “Every person’s experience is different, and we shouldn’t assume that our leaders will instantly understand or connect with our own lives just because they’ve had similar stories. But we do know that personnel is policy.”

Warren said on Thursday that she’s “grateful down to my toes” for the endorsements.

“I promise to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with you all for the big, structural change we need so everyone has the opportunity to succeed,” the Democratic candidate tweeted.

The AAPI community makes up roughly 4% of the U.S. electorate and is one of the fastest growing racial groups in the country. Nearly 2 in 5 Asian American registered voters have not identified as either Democratic or Republican.

The AAPI Victory Fund, a super PAC focused on mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Islander voters, endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, Warren’s fellow Democratic presidential hopeful, earlier this month. Meanwhile, businessman Andrew Yang, the only Asian American in the 2020 presidential race, has raked in the most cash from the AAPI community, according to AAPI Data.

The AAPI collective’s endorsement of Warren comes less than two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, which have historically proven to be a strong predictor of who will receive a party’s presidential nomination.

A Focus on Rural America poll released Monday showed Biden leading the Democratic field in Iowa with 24% of likely Democratic voters supporting him. Warren trails behind him at 18%, followed by former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 16% and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at 14%.

Head over to Medium to read the AAPI group’s full blog post and the list of signatories.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.