AAPI Victory Fund explained

Formation:2016
Key People:Shekar Narasimhan (Chair and Founder)
Bel Leong-Hong (Co-Founder)
Dilawar Syed (Co-Founder)
Tung Nguyen (Co-Founder)
Norman Mineta (Chair, National Leadership Council))
Affiliations:Democratic
AAPI Victory Fund

The AAPI Victory Fund is a Political Action Committee that focuses on mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) eligible voters and supports Democrat AAPI candidates.

In September 2019, the organization hosted the first Democratic Presidential Forum for the AAPI community. Held at the Segerstrom Center in Orange County, Presidential candidates Tulsi Gabbard, Tom Steyer, and Andrew Yang attended the townhall forum.[1] On January 17, 2020, the AAPI Victory Fund endorsed Joe Biden for president.[2] On May 5, 2021, they endorsed Andrew Yang for Mayor of New York City.[3] . On July 21st, 2024, they endorsed Kamala Harris for president.

Contributions to Candidates

Since its founding, AAPI Victory Fund has raised 2.8 million U.S. dollars and has made nearly $14,000 in individual contributions to presidential, senate, and house candidates. The organization spent $500,000 in independent expenditures.[4]

!Year Cycle!Funds Raised!Presidential Contributions!Senate Contributions!House Contributions!Independent Expenditures
2020$1,551,290Joe Biden (D) | $3,030|Bernie Sanders (D-VT) | $2,673John Hickenlooper (D-CO) $50Gil Cisneros (D-CA) | $2500Judy Chu (D-CA) | $225

Donna Imam (D-TX) | $185

Gina Ortiz Jones (D-TX) | $185

Sri Kulkarni (D-TX) | $185

Sima Ladjevardian (D-TX) | $185

Helane Seikaly (D-TX) | $185|FOR Joe Biden (D) | $149,984FOR MJ Hegar (D-TX) $133,965

2018$544,724NoneNoneAndrew Janz (D-CA) | $560Grace Meng (D-NY) $500

Gina Ortiz Jones (D-TX)

$100

Stephanie Murphy (D-FL)

$75

Abigail Spanberger (D-VA)

$18FOR Jon Ossoff (D-GA) | $2,998FOR Hiral Tipirneni (D-AZ) $5,000
2016$703,107Hillary Clinton (D) | $1,700|Katie McGinty (D-PA) | $1,364|None|AGAINST Richard Burr (R-NC) | $10,420AGAINST Joe Heck (R-NV) | $10,000

AGAINST Donald Trump (R) | $72,120

FOR Hillary Clinton (D) | $93,668

FOR Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) | $13,499

FOR Deborah Ross (D-NC) | $11,080|}[5]

Controversies

On March 12, 2019, Open Secrets reported that a Chinese-owned company provided illegal contributions through its US-based American Pacific International Capital (APIC) to Jeb Bush's super PAC Right to Rise. APIC also made contributions to the AAPI Victory Fund and was the organization's fifth largest donor for the 2016 election cycle.[6]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Zint . Bradley . Three Democratic presidential hopefuls state their case at forum in Costa Mesa . 10 February 2021 . Los Angeles Times . September 8, 2019.
  2. News: Fuchs . Chris . Asian American super PAC endorses Joe Biden . 10 February 2021 . NBC News . January 17, 2020.
  3. Web site: Andrew Yang gets backing from national PAC in NYC mayor race. . May 5, 2021.
  4. Web site: AAPI Victory Fund PAC Contributions to Federal Candidates. OpenSecrets.
  5. Web site: AAPI Victory Fund PAC Profile. OpenSecrets.
  6. Web site: 2019-03-12. Chinese-owned company that gave illegal $1.3 million to Jeb Bush super PAC also gave to pro-Clinton groups . OpenSecrets.